One last strafing run and it would be a wrap for tonight.
SunTzu was somewhere over a military training area on Okinawa, exercising nightly Close Air Support Missions with the Joint Attack Terminal Controllers, the guys directing in Air and other Support, from Team 2 and 3.
The teams were flewn out with the Gunships and would also leave the Training Areas afterwards to go back to Crystal Tokio.
The Tactical Air Controller on the ground checked in and laid down the various parameters for the strafing run through a nine point spanning procedure, called a Nine-Liner.
The JTAC gave SunTzu the necessary data and SunTzu copied and repeated some important info.
He turned about and began his run.
"You're cleared hot SunTzu!"
His lasers were set to training mode but the Light Show the black and grey A-Wing gave as it lighted up the training target with red lasers was still a sight to behold. The soldiers on the ground were cheering and after his run SunTzu veered off and deployed some flares, since no enemy was around that could target him with heat seeking weapons that was more for show. But it was a nice ending.
"Good effect on target, SunTzu."
"Copy, SunTzu checking out. Have a nice evening!"
Saying that he descended up again and headed back on a straight planned course back home.
It was now 23:59 on the 16th of April and he was glad to finally be able to go home. He wanted to be fit tomorrow, for whenever Rei told him to show up. She didn't tell him yet if she wanted to throw a party or what was planned but he knew, she was pretty busy with the temple lately too.
When the clock sprang to 00:00 he already had his phone in hand while AICA flew home on Autopilot and texted Happy Birthday to Rei.
The answer didn't took a minute either, asking if he set an alarm for this.
SunTzu responded with a voice message.
"Actually I'm somewhere over the East Chinese Sea on my way home, I had a night exercise. I'm rushing home right now to be fit tomorrow. Or rather later." He laughed shortly. "By the way you didn't tell me when and where tomorrow or what at all."
She wrote him if she could call him. He answered with a sure, AICA has Bluetooth now. And internet inside. The GA didn't spare any expenses.
She called in a few seconds later and AICA took the call.
"Hi." She sounded a bit tired.
"Hey. Whatcha doing?"
"Nothing as fancy as doing TopGun Stuff in the middle of the night I'm afraid." She laughed shortly. "I'm at the temple and already in bed." She said, sprawling in her bed.
"Oh and the mean Pilot Man is keeping you awake. I'm sorry. But also, I was expecting you to celebrate into your birthday already with the Girls." He answered.
"Not in my age." She laughed again. "No, I'll keep that for tomorrow, I have to take care of some stuff here in the temple tomorrow morning. She paused. "God, i feel old. TopGun, tell me I'm not old."
"Rei you are not old. Stop talking nonsense. You're far from old. You know how's old? Me! I want to go to bed like a grumpy old man and sleep ten hours."
She giggled again.
"I can actually imagine this."
"So, before I let you sleep. Where and when shall I be tomorrow?"
"Hm, have you been to a Shinto Shrine yet?"
"Actually no, I don't even know if I'm allowed to visit one as catholic." He stated.
"Oh c'mon, why you shouldn't. Every single damn tourist visits them. How about I give you the tour tomorrow early noon, say 10:30."
"I'll be there. If we find the way home from here again."
"I told you, no dieing till my birthday party."
"But you didn't say something about getting shipwrecked."
She laughed again.
"You cut your beard, that Robinson Crusoe Style doesn't fit you anymore."
"Just give me a few months." Another chuckle.
"I'm going to sleep now. Please get home safe, okay?"
"Of course, AICA takes care of me."
"If taking care means that I do all the work here, than I do!" AICA chimed in.
"Hi AICA!" Rei said.
"Hi Rei, Happy Birthday!"
"You're actually the first Starship that ever congratulated me on my birthday." Rei laughed again.
"Okay, I really gotta get my beauty sleep now. Have a good flight home you guys. SunTzu, I'll see you tomorrow morning. Goodnight."
"Goodnight Rei, happy birthday again."
They hung op.
"AICA, I'll take control again."
He took the joystick and flew three Loopings in a row.
It was 2am till he fell in his bed. But his alarm was set and his heart happy. He even put her gift prominently onto his floor stand to not forget it.
His alarm sounded off at 08:30 and with a smile on his face he walked into the bathroom to get ready.
He put on some new clothes, had a small breakfast and ordered an Uber.
10:20 he was standing at the entrance of the Hikawa shrine, wrapped gift in his hand, heart jumping.
He heard something crowing above him and when he looked up, he saw two crows circling over him. Strange.
"That must be this German punctuality I heard about." A voice came from behind him.
A smiling Rei, dressed again in her Miko Clothes, walked up to him, smiling.
Something about her was extra beautiful today.
"Guten Tag!" He said and straightened up, giving a stiff expression.
"Good Morning. I see you found home."
"Barely! But I found this also." He handed her the gift.
"Oh, wow. You shouldn't have." She was visibly surprised.
"You don't even know what it is." He said to her with a smile. "Happy Birthday!"
She glanced around her for a moment and then hugged him shortly.
Being so near to her made his heart jump into his throat.
"Mind if I open it?" She asked?
"Of course not, it's your gift."
"Right. She opened it and handed him the packaging.
"What? How do you know? I love this perfume!"
"Well I had a little help from a friend of yours. And a certain blue haired Senshi was involved also."
"Koan and Ami. I see." She smiled happily. "Just a moment okay."
Rei rushed back to the living quarters of the temple and came back a few minutes later.
The two crows were still circling over him and he were observing them. They swooped down and landed in front of him.
Beautiful looking birds with shining feathers. He wish he had something to feed them with.
"I see you met Phobos and Deimos already." Rei came back.
"Phobos and Deimos?" He asked.
"These two beauties are the shrine's and my guardians." Like on a command both ravens took off again and settled on Rei's Shoulders.
"You know you make it harder every day to beat your party tricks." He said, pretty amazed.
She petted the two birds and the birds rubbed their beaks on her arm.
"Can I pet them?" He asked her, still amazed from the habituality the birds and Rei had with each other.
"Of course, come here." He walked over and slowly extended his hands.
"Girls be nice to our visitor. Don't worry SunTzu, they don't bite." He extended his hand a bit more towards the crow on her left shoulder and the bird looked at him with his head tilted to the site before it jumped down Rei's arm a bit and rubbed his head against SunTzu's hand.
SunTzu started to pet the bird.
"They're beautiful birds. Think they might like AICA, we could set up a play date for them."
She giggled.
"Well, the colors would match at least."
They petted the two crows for a bit longer and then Rei whistled and they took off.
"Time to give you the tour. My grandpa is running some errands in the city and the shrine opens only on the afternoon today so we should be on our own."
Being alone with Rei sounded great. Well, at least if there weren't any Droidekas around.
She showed him around the beautiful historical wood made shrine and told him about the various parts of the building and about Shintoism and it's characteristics.
He listened carefully to everything she was saying.
The shrine lay beautiful on top of a hill and was now naturally decorated by some blooming Cherry Trees.
Talking about Sakura. Did he just smell a hint of the perfume while walking next to Rei?
"How about some tea? Or do you guys just drink beer?" She asked him playfully
"Isn't beer kind of a tea too?" He answered raising his eyebrows.
"Oh TopGun, that one was bad even for you." She laughed.
They had a wonderful, freshly made green tea together sitting in one of the rooms.
"Thanks for the tour and the nice morning." He thanked her.
"Thank you for the gift. And the company." She replied.
"So, what's the deal for later on? I have to get some stuff done on the base in the afternoon but then I'm down for whatever."
She sighed.
"I guess I have to be honest. My birthday's are usually this. I try to make the best of the day and in the evening I have a dinner with my Dad. It's basically the only time of the year we really meet each other and talk. And it's like something I have to do. Japanese culture, you know. After that I'm usually so annoyed that I get drunk as a fish. Our relationship is not the best." He could see, that she got sad thinking about this.
"I'm sorry to hear this."
"It's okay. I'm used to it. He's a big number in the Japanese Government and thinks our Kingdom is just something on the fringes, that won't hold up for long."
He nodded.
"I think I became a diplomat mostly to show him that I can do as good as he can, even without his help. He rather would see me as a wife for one of his associates. Political marriage and stuff."
"Not to intervene, but trophy wife is the last role I see you in. Especially after fighting side by side with you."
She looked up, showing SunTzu a small smile.
"Yeah, but he doesn't see stuff like that." Another pause. "God, I'm already annoyed again."
"I'm sorry. I didn't want to ruin your mood. It's not your fault."
"Is there something I can do?"
"Well… Actually there is. You got a dark suit?"
She proposed the idea to him, that he could play her chauffeur and when she had enough she would just text him and he would get her out there with a excuse like her person was needed at the palace or something.
It was her birthday so of course she got what she was wishing for.
Next stop for him was Juban Arcades again, where he shopped for a black suit and the other necessary clothes and the fitting pair of shoes. He needed a suit anyway so this kinda came in handy.
She told that she'd take care of the car and that they'll meet at 18:30 at the palace car pool.
He settled his stuff, mostly organizational stuff. that was needed to be done at the base, took a shower at the Airbase Center and left for the palace.
When he got there at 18:20 she was already waiting. She wore a little black dress, her usual red earrings and black high heels as well as a black and golden purse. Stunning, as always.
"You're German too now?" He said as he walked up to her.
"Just want to get over with it as fast as I can."
"Here the keys, it's the one over there." She motioned to a shining black Mercedes Limousine at one of the parking lot places.
Nice. He smiled.
"I thought a German car would make you happy."
"You know you're kind of a philanthropist on your birthday, Rei?"
"Just one of my secret super powers TopGun. Oh and I have this." She was hiding a chauffeur hat behind her back. He took it and put it on.
"How do I look?" He asked her.
"Like a glorified taxi driver that likes to do stupid things."
"Perfect."
He smiled and walked over the car. Opening it with the remote he held up the back door for Rei.
She got in and thanked him. He rounded the car and got into the driver's seat.
"So, Miss Hino, where can I drive you to?"
She gave him the Adress and he put it into the car computer. Off they went.
"Hm, I could get used to this." Stated Rei, lounging in the roomy rear of the car.
They arrived on time at a very fancy restaurant in the city center. SunTzu got out of the car and held the door for Rei.
Around the same time a large black Lexus limousine rolled up too.
The man SunTzu saw from the balcony that one time at his first ball at the palace got out when his chauffeur opened the door for him.
Oh, now he understood.
Rei bowed down to his window, to say somthing to him.
"That's my father. You know what we said, my phone is out, but when I write you a message get me out there with the story we agreed on."
"Affirmative. Have fun nonetheless."
"I don't think that will happen."
Her father walked over and greeted her very formally. Rei bowed down slightly for a greeting. From what he heared the tone was rather cold. They disappeared in the restaurant and SunTzu got back into the car.
Around a hour later, he was checking in on the latest galactic developments, his phone rang.
He thought she'd write a message but okay. Seemed that it was really going bad in there.
He pulled out his phone. It wasn't Rei calling. It was Usagi personally. He took the call.
"My Queen…"
Two minutes later he stormed into the restaurant, ignoring the receptionist and the waiters, straight heading for the table where Rei and her father were sitting after he discovered them.
He got to the table, where they just finished their main course and leaned over to a surprised Rei.
He started whispering into her ear.
"We have a problem. Usagi just called."
She looked to her father and got up.
"Excuse me Father."
She went a few steps away from the table with SunTzu. SunTzu looked really tense.
"What happened?" She asked him quietly.
"There has been attacks around most of the northern Trade Lanes. Someone started a goddamn offensive against the Galactic Alliance. It's absolutely crazy. The whole fleet is on alarm, the Far Side taking off while we speak. Usagi said, you can stay here, she doesn't want to spoil your birthday but I have to leave immediately. I'll take AICA to catch up with the Far Side, she already gets ready to take off too." He said with a stern face.
"I'm sorry this is happening, bad timing. You have money for a taxi later?"
"What do you mean? We are leaving. Now."
"Rei, you can stay here. It's chaos out there. It looks like War is coming to the Galaxy."
"Listen, i appreciate your concerns but Rei Hino doesn't run away from a fight. If it's really that crazy you'll need Sailor Mars's Cleansing Fire." She looked to her father and then back to SunTzu.
"I'll take AICA with you to the Far Side. You owe me space trip anyway."
She went back to the table, SunTzu following behind her.
"I'm sorry father, there has been unforeseen developments that need my immediate attention as representative of the Crystal Tokyo Kingdom as well as representative of the Galactic Alliance. Two legitime governments that you don't trust in. So if you'd excuse me, your daughter is needed to do her part to safe the Galaxy. Send me message what i owe you for the food."
She stormed out the restaurant, SunTzu nodded politely to the politician and followed the black haired woman.
As they rushed out of the restaurant she quickly walked over to the car of her father and exchanged some words with her father's driver.
She got in the passenger seat of their car as SunTzu sat down in the driver seat and started the car.
"Rei, could you open the glove box please?"
"Let me guess, another gun?" She asked.
"Nope, open it."
She opened it and a small red flashing light was inside. He installed it on the rear mirror then turned car and flashing light on.
"Fits well, I just told my father's driver that we need an exceptional right to speed though the city?" She explained.
He looked over to her.
"What? My dad is the Minister of the Interior, so that's just a small favor." She shrugged.
"Your dad is the Minister of Interior of Japan?!"
She shrugged again with an apologizing look in her face. He shook his head and started the car.
They rushed through the city as fast as they could, the flashing light shooing off Traffic in front of them.
She had her phone out and tried to get information as well as cancel her birthday plans.
She just had ended one call.
"That was Amy, they're all on board already and the Task Force is taking course onto Moon to jump into Hyperspace. We're supposed to head to Shwuy first. Hold up, I gotta take this. Koan? Hi!"
As the car entered the bridge from Juban to Crystal Tokio SunTzu opened his window. And he could immediately hear here. Seconds later a beautiful black and grey colored A-Wing appeared beside the car and the side of the bridge. The Starfighter followed them all the way to the Base.
Few minutes later hey arrived at the base gate and stopped the car. SunTzu threw the car key to one of the soldiers on guard duty, which all were armored and sported rifles now as AICA landed on the parking lot and opened the canopy.
Rei run over to the starfighter, stopped for a second to take off her high heels and entered the backseat. SunTzu followed in close, picking up his pilot helmet that lay on his seat. Thanks Karlena.
As soon as both were sitting the canopy closed and they strapped in while AICA was already lifting off.
SunTzu took controll and after a back look to check on Rei, who actually seemed to enjoy the whole thing, he pushed the thrusters to max and shoot up in the night sky.
"I'm sorry your birthday has to end like that." SunTzu stated.
"Disregarding that the Galaxy is burning right now, I'd have to say that was the best birthday evening I had in years. Did you saw my father's face when I told him what I was about to do?"
Well at least she tried to take it sportsmanlike.
"Let's see how bad things really are. Maybe some Chairborne Generals on Coruscant are just exaggerating." He tried to cheer them both up. It didn't work that well.
"I hope so. I'm not ready to go to war."
He know what she meant, if this was a coordinated, full blown attack on the Galaxy things would be way different than in the last missions.
"How about some music?" Maybe that would help to take out the tension a bit.
Apparently the Diplomat liked famous female Rappers.
Soon they passed from atmosphere into space but while Rei still looked out the window in amazement, it wasn't the same, the lightness was missing.
"This doesn't count as the one we bargained. It's for work anyway."
She turned her head forward, towards him again and nodded slowly.
Seeing the ESDF Ships in combat formation patrolling around earth made SunTzu realize, that probably this whole thing was as severe has he thought.
He put more energy in the engines and shoot for the Moon, heading towards the Far Side.
Not far later AICA touched down in the Far Side's Central Hangar, that was bristling with Activity. The Canopy opened and both opened their seatbelts and stood up.
It was quite the absurd sight to behold, he in front in a good sitting black suit and tie and her, with the little black dress standing in the cockpit of the black A-Wing, assessing the situation.
"Hey Mr. and Mrs. Smith, glad you finally could join our party!" A certain short haired blonde Pilot and Senshi yelled over from her Tie-Fighter. "Nice dress tho, Rei!"
Michiru was staring at her girlfriend with an annoyed look and facepalmed.
Sailor Venus walked up to AICA.
"You guys had a date? I thought you had dinner with your father? You both look good tho."
The Galaxy was falling into chaos and these women just cared about Rei and his love life. Great.
He climbed out the cockpit.
"No, we didn't. TopGun just helped me with a plan to end the annually disaster date with my Dad, when somebody decided to start a war against the Galactic Alliance." Rei explained, and climbed out of the cockpit with SunTzu helping her. He then grabbed her shoes from her seat and gave them to her. She slipped the heels back on.
"What in hell's name is going on now? Are we at war?" She asked Venus.
"Follow me, Queen Serenity and Sailor Mercury know more." She lead her to the door.
Meanwhile Karlena and some ground crew members were swarming around SunTzu and AICA already.
Rei stopped and looked back and wanted to thank SunTzu for the ride and that he tried to help her with the dinner with her father.
Karlena was busy talking with him. He noticed her out of the corner of his eye while he spoke with Karlena and gave her a wink.
She smiled and then turned around again, following Sailor Venus.
Well at least she looked more happy than the last time she met her father, he thought while Karlena told him that they'd arm AICA up completely now.
Something in his stomach told him that things were about to go down south even more.