AN: There's references to the side story "Medical Evaluation" over at AO3 in this story.
AICA was passing over a small fleet of three Star Destroyers, two Imperial-Class and a Victory-Class, coming in from a planet near Prakith. SunTzu and his ship had helped to clear an enemy stronghold on the planet, mostly ex-Imps and pirates, helping the GA Ground Forces contingents from the Star Destroyers. Among them was an Imperial Special Scout Trooper Team SunTzu once had trained with before, back before the Shadow War had escalated so much.
SunTzu had flown a SEAD-Sortie, Supression of Enemy Air Defence, and had paved the way for three squadrons of bombers who had then carpet-bombed the enemy positions.
The sortie had been a mix of jamming enemy electronics, destroying enemy anti-air emplacements and drawing fire onto him and AICA and it had been pretty risky.
But SunTzu had volunteered to fly the mission nonetheless and AICA had agreed as well, as she would fly to to wherever her pilot would go and take on every mission he would take, without even calculating the odds.
The black A-Wing formed up over the Victory-Class in the middle of the two larger Star Destroyers and floated in space, when a holo call came in.
"Hey Boss, it's Ami."
SunTzu looked at his console and took the call.
"Hello Ami, what's up?"
"Hello SunTzu, how are things going in the Core? I heard you and AICA were supporting a ground operation."
Spies… why do they always have to know anything?
"Just mopped up the last resistance. So, pretty good timing for your call. As if you'd have known."
A small pause followed before the blunette continued.
"SunTzu, there's a situation here. I need you to come to Earth."
"Earth? I've just been on Earth. Can't somebody else do it? I mean after all, there's this bunch of chicks with magical superpowers guarding Earth and the Sol System. You should know, you're one of them."
"This particular situation is… delicate. I only can tell you in private. But we really need you here, this is big."
SunTzu sighed.
"Fine, just let me inform the CO here."
"Already done. The Commodore already received your orders, you can get going immediately. Please hurry."
And with that, SunTzu was pretty sure mostly to avoid any further questions, she ended the call.
"Jump to hyperspace in thirty seconds." AICA announced, as she already had made the calculations.
SunTzu was briefly thinking about to protest but he had learned already that resisting the women in his life was futile.
When arriving at the Sol System SunTzu was mildly pissed as Ami told him that he officially wasn't evn here and the time record he and AICA just had broken to get back to Earth was inane.
But he also was curious as Ami didn't navigated him to the Palace or Earth at all but rather to Mariner Castle in the Orbit of Mercury, Ami's patron planet.
Something seemed to be really off.
Soon AICA was heading towards the castle, which was floating in Space and wasn't any less beautiful or sophisticated looking forward than Rei's Phobos&Deimos's Castle.
He carefully landed AICA at a projection on the Castle's side, closed his helmet and got out the cockpit.
Through a small gate covered with a protective shield he entered the Castle and found him in a large entrance hall, where he took his helmet off.
Princess Mercury was waiting for him there and she wasn't alone. To SunTzu's surprise Sailor Pluto was there as well.
SunTzu raised an eyebrow, this wasn't an Intervention, was it?
"Hello Ami. You called and I'm here." SunTzu said and bowed down slightly. "Guess I have to say thanks for inviting me into your Castle."
"You're more than welcome. Good, that you're here." The Blunette nodded and SunTzu turned to Setsuna.
"Who would have thought we meet so soon again, SunTzu." Sailor Pluto greeted him.
"Indeed, who would have known. Hello Setsuna."
"If you'd follow me please, SunTzu." Ami said nonchalantly and lead the trio out of the large room and through a corridor in a smaller room.
To SunTzu's surprise a small command post had been arranged in her, with various communication and surveillance devices.
Ami walked in first and motioned SunTzu to sit down on a small portable table with three chairs around it.
Of course the chair SunTzu was on, was the one standing alone on one side of the table.
"Let me guess, another one of these missions that officially never existed." SunTzu said as he sat down and Princess Mercury and Sailor Pluto sat down on the other side of the table.
"Positive. But this one is a even more delicate than usual."
"I hear that before everyone of these jobs. Let's cut it, who do I need to kill?"
Ami stared at him for a moment while she received a side gaze from Setsuna.
"Nobody, well not particularly. It's more complicated than this." She paused for a moment. "You're going to China. A bio-weapon, a genetically modified Corona-Virus, has escaped a laboratory in the city of Wuhan. We learned that from an agent of our service. China is trying to block and isolate the city and even the whole region and not even independent Health Organisations or the WHO are allowed to get a proper sample of the Virus. They're clearly trying to cover their tracks but this virus will spread, there's no doubt about it."
"It's been a few years, since I've been involved with Virology, but even I can say that this particular Corona-Virus is more aggressive and way more lethal then others. If we can research it now, we can quickly find a cure and a vaccination. I fear that if we wont act quickly we will face a global pandemic event with hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dead. And this is just the beginning, the economical damage would be immense as well. Life like we all know it now would be changed for years." Setsuna continued with a well-founded medical assessment after Ami.
"Setsuna is right. We have to get a sample, and if possible, it's genetic sequence as well. And that's were you come into play. Get into that bio-weapon lab and provide us with the sample and every other Intel you can get. And then trigger the lab's self-destruction-sequence and destroy it. Of course after you get near the city, you're on your own. And nobody officially knows about you being there, even GAIS will deny you any help. If you get compromised this could trigger a war between Crystal Tokyo and China, a World War even."
"So, just for the record. I'm basically have to save the world and the way people are living while going to ground zero of a bio weapon outbreak, and if I get busted im so hard on my own, that even Ada will deny me any help?" SunTzu snorted. "Cool. Where's my Bond Girl then?"
Setsuna rolled her eyes and turned her head away in annoyance and Ami raised an eyebrow after the last sentence.
"Okay. Nevermind. I have AICA after all. Please tell me I can at least use her for infiltration and don't have to do a Baumgartner and jump out of the stratosphere for a HALO-jump."
"AICA will insert you to a nearby compound, where an agent of us provides you with a Chinese HazMat-Suit and ID to infiltrate the city and hopefully the base. Of course we'll stay in contact all through the mission. Setsuna will stay here with me as consultant for any virological questions."
"Understood. When do I leave?"
"The mission starts in two hours."
And then Ami began to smile and held up an electric shaver.
"I'm afraid that for safety measures your facial and scalp hair have to go though."
Now SunTzu was the one raising an eyebrow.
Two and a half hours later AICA was in full stealth mode and entering Earth's atmosphere near Wuhan. It was night time on this half of the Blue Planet and SunTzu noticed that for a metropolitan area with over ten million inhabitants the city was pretty low lighted.
On the monitors on AICA's console some passive sensors gave him indication where he needed to take care or stay away from Chinese sensors.
Ten tense minutes later he landed his snub in the inner courtyard of a house next to the Yangtze which would ran further and through the city.
An Intelligence Service Agent, a middle aged Chinese man, awaited him there, already wearing a green Hazmat suit but not the helmet yet.
AICA dropped SunTzu and immediately left for space again, she would stay on a waiting position in space, away from anything that could sensor her.
SunTzu and the Agent greeted each other, the Chinese man was speaking decent English, although with an accent.
He lead SunTzu inside the house where he presented him a Chinese's military hazmat kit including suit, helmet and load bearing device. The kit also included a Chinese service pistol and a QBZ-95 Assault Rifle, the standard weapon of the Chinese Forces. SunTzu wasn't a fan of Bullpup-Rifles but at least he was glad that he had a rifle with him now.
SunTzu stroke over his head, his hair now only a few millimeters long, and he briefly remembered the trace of glee he sensed in her, when Ami seemed had shaved his hair off. He wasn't very fond of wearing the protective suit, it was crazy hot in them, but it wouldn't help if he didn't want to risk himself getting infected with the virus.
SunTzu and the Agent put on their complete suits, SunTzu was posing as an Lieutenant of a NBC-Unit and the agent as his driver, activated the air supply and then boarded a Chinese military off road vehicle that had been stored inside the compound as well.
"Communist Country. With enough money you can buy and bribe everyone." The Agent said with a shrug and SunTzu could hear his laughing under the protective equipment.
And then they left for the nearby city, where the Wuhan Institute of Virology lay in the metropolitan area of the city.
Earlier at the briefing SunTzu had begun to sarcastically laugh when Ami showed him the location of the lab.
"Which dumbfuck builds a bio-weapon lab in the middle of an metropolitan area?"
Ten minutes later they had passed the third checkpoint and slowly entered the concrete jungle of Wuhan.
It was surreal, the whole city had been placed under a lockdown and police and military were the only people outside, all of them in hazmat suits and armed.
Other than that the streets of the huge city were deserted.
Occasionally an ambulance, with siren and flashlight on, shot past them, carrying what probably would be a victim of the disease.
Because of the many checkpoints the few kilometers to the Lab still took an hour and SunTzu was decently unnerved when they finally arrived at the gate that lead into the base.
Armored cars with heavy machine guns were stationed around the gate and what seemed like at least a whole company was patrolling around and inside the base.
The Agent showed the sergeant at arms at the guard post his perfectly faked ID and the orders which stated that the Lieutenant had to report in at the lab.
The sergeant read the orders thoroughly and even used a flashlight to look into the driver's face.
And then he leaned in the open window of the car and took a long look at SunTzu.
"Nǐ wú huà kě shuō, zhōngwèi?" The non-commissioned Officer asked SunTzu.
SunTzu didn't speak any Chinese but who needs to learn a language if you have one of the highest developed Artificial Intelligences in the Galaxy directly connected to your ear?
"Wǒ wèishéme yào? Wǒ yě qǐngqiú duì guānyuán de zūnzhòng." The gasmask and the protective suit covered SunTzu's accent as he told the sergeant why he should say something and then demanded the respect one should have have for an officer.
The guardist immediately straightened up, saluted and then motioned his men to open the gate for the vehicle.
The vehicle stopped in front of the entrance of the main building and the Agent offered a handshake to SunTzu.
"I'll get me and the vehicle disinfected and head back. You're own your own now. Good luck, Captain."
SunTzu shook the man's hand and thanked him for bringing him to the target.
And then he disembarked the car and made his way inside the building.
SunTzu was sweating, partly because the rubberized suit he was wearing, partly because he was nervous, when he came to the guard post at the entrance of the laboratory.
The soldiers there checked his documents and waved him through and he let out a large breather when he had finally passed through without his cover blown.
While he made his way through the building Setsuna urged him to check his suit again and Ami told him to keep an eye open for anything that would tell where the areas with higher bio safety level were on.
So far nobody seemed to bat an eye about him but the place was packed with soldiers and researchers and SunTzu could imagine it usually wasn't busy like that.
He came past an overview of the building near a couple of elevators and it showed that there were levels underground. Thank god, some researchers were buyable from governments and so for any foreign researchers the plan was also written in english underneath the chinese. And it said that the bio-labs were underground.
"I'd place the virus in S3. You should be happy Captain, this means you don't have to run around in the area where they work with Ebola."
Thank you Setsuna, I feel so much safer now.
SunTzu swallowed down a reply and walked into the elevator.
Of course he would need a keycard to get to underground level 3, where the S3 labs were located.
"You have to acquire a keycard to get down there. Try the administrative center up in the second floor, maybe you can find some data in there as well." Ami suggested to him and SunTzu took the elevator up into the second story.
Here were less soldiers patrolling but still enough that SunTzu couldn't let his guard down.
After a few corridors and saluting back at three guard posts he carefully entered a middle sized office with four desks, which wasn't guarded. Fortunately there was nobody inside but SunTzu was pretty sure that there were cameras around and soon he spotted one hanging in the room.
The camera was hanging so that it was recording the middle of the room, which meant, that SunTzu had one desk that wasn't in the camera's focus.
Trust on the military and or a corrupt government to fuck things up, SunTzu thought when he moved along the wall to not get spotted by the camera.
When he had arrived the desk he pulled out an USB-Stick, a transmitter to AICA, which would send the data further to Ami's makeshift HQ, and put it into the computer before he turned on the PC.
Within seconds AICA was in the system and checking the data and trying to get access to the intranet of the facility.
"It's quite tough to crack but nothing I didn't expect from China. Actually it's quite exciting." The AI told over the small receiver in SunTzu's ear.
A few seconds later AICA came in again.
"I sent some of the data over to you guys, Ami. SunTzu you can turn off the computer again and retrieve the transmitter. Unfortunately I didn't think a way to get you down to the lab, guess you have to come up with something on your own."
Of course…
"Affirmative. I'll see what I can do." He whispered under his suit's mask, while he covered his tracks.
Sneaking out of the room again, he made sure the coast was clear and went back to the main corridor, where he took the elevator back to the ground floor. Stepping out he pretended to walk a patrol while Ami and Setsuna came in again.
"Setsuna overflew the data but she needs more of it."
"We have some basic Intel about the virus now, but I still need a clean sample for an antidote. You have to get down there and get me one."
Easier said than done, Ladies.
SunTzu walked another round through the building when suddenly a group of three researchers in modern, white hazmat suits entered the building through the front door, escorted by two soldiers.
Being completely out of ideas on what to do, except starting to kill people until one would drop a key card and then hope for the very unlikely event to not get killed in the process, SunTzu just fell in step behind the two soldiers.
Just like expected the researchers headed for the elevator.
SunTzu got in as last in the elevator but positioned him behind the three researchers and the two soldiers were behind him.
He could sense that one of the soldiers was confused where the Lieutenant came from and apparently tried to inform his comrade about his suspicion, although without words.
His comrade just waved him aside, after all the man in front of them was an Officer.
SunTzu had to smile, trust on the military to make people get rid of any further intelligent thinking.
To SunTzu's delight the researchers went for the third underground floor and SunTzu smiled again, when he left the elevator cabin.
People so afraid of breaking their standard procedure and the fear of officers had brought him here.
The area around the elevator was full with soldiers but it looked like that the soldiers tried to keep their distance from the rest of the laboratory. And probably not because of orders but rather out of fear and superstition. It was just embarrassing at this point. No wonder that virus had gotten out if things were done so dilettantish.
I swear to god, if these were my men they would spend the rest of their time in the Forces cleaning latrines.
SunTzu followed the researchers and soon they split up, two went for what looked like a meeting room and one went further.
SunTzu smiled again under his mask when he saw that the man was heading to the back of the laboratory.
Apparently the researcher was so used to have soldiers around him, that he even didn't look back to SunTzu.
The man opened a door with a keycard and entered a room and SunTzu could see it was a laboratory.
He followed the man inside, which didn't seem to surprise the researcher, and at first the man began to work, booting up a computer and walking to a freezer with what seemed to be pipets.
After unlocking the freezer the researcher turned around and looked at SunTzu.
"You don't have to stay in here. I can do my work alone." The researcher said to SunTzu in Chinese but SunTzu just kept standing near the door, looking at the man.
The man sighed under his suit and got back to his work.
He just had opened the door to the freezer when SunTzu appeared next to him.
The researcher looked up and fell into a shock. The soldier was now next to him and had a large combat knife drawn.
SunTzu killed the man silently by cutting his throat, cutting through the Hazmat-Suit first, and hid the body behind the desk in the room, before he took his keycard.
He pulled out the receiver from earlier again and put it in the computer.
A minute later AICA became active in his headset.
"Jackpot. Doctor, I have everything you possibly could want. And I have access to the self-destruction."
"Perfect." SunTzu said while he checked the freezer.
"What am I looking for in the freezer?"
"Wait one, Captain."
A few seconds later Setsuna came on again.
"This is tricky. I don't know if we can manage that without you knowing chinese."
"Damn, i cant even describe this letters."
Suddenly AICA interrupted Setsuna and SunTzu.
"Guy's there's a webcam here, we can use it."
"Great. SunTzu take the sample and hold it in the front."
The first two were wrong and merely filled with nutritive substance.
SunTzu took the third sample and showed it to the camera.
"It says SARS-CoV-2." AICA stated.
"That's it!" Setsuna yelled out. "That's the virus."
SunTzu carefully stored the sample on his load bearing rig, closed the freezer and turned off the monitor.
"AICA, activate the self destruction in five minutes. Unless someone gets onto me."
"Copy. Better get out then, would be a shame if you get burned by thermite and we wouldn't even have a crispy body to bury anymore."
SunTzu got out of the room, as if nothing happened, locked the door and made his way back to the elevator.
He even let the soldiers nearby salute him before he took the elevator up to the ground floor and walked out of the building.
Outside a truck with more soldiers just had arrived and while the soldiers got out, SunTzu opened the door to the passenger seat of the cabin.
The driver looked at him but SunTzu just nodded and the driver didn't ask anymore, the man next to him was an officer after all.
The truck took off again and just as he had left the grounds of the laboratory an alarm began to blare.
In one minute the labs would be destroyed with the ignition of thermit and everything would be cremated at 2400 degrees Celsius.
The driver looked at SunTzu again but he just shrugged and motioned the man to drive on.
A few minutes later, when the truck was completely alone on the street but still properly halted at a red traffic light, SunTzu opened the door and got out. The driver yelled something after SunTzu.
"Ó bi zuî!" SunTzu just replied to the yelling man, it was one of the few words he had memorized in Chinese, and tipped on his rank insignia and then closed the truck's door, leaving the dumbfounded driver alone in the cabine. Ten seconds later, when the traffic light switched to green, the driver drove off.
SunTzu didn't look back at the truck and went to a block like residental building, while he told AICA to come get him.
He kicked in the building's door, was greeted by the angry block post keeper who immediately went silent after seeing the military hazmat suit and the rifle, and took the elevator up to the roof of the building. Within two minutes AICA was there, and SunTzu ditched the Hazmat suit and not even another two minutes later, AICA was back in space, completely unseen by any sensors.
AICA and SunTzu left China without getting detected again, or at least with any radar or other means of target acquisition locking onto on them, and flew back into space.
SunTzu was about to fly back to Mariner Castle but Ami told him, that was off limits.
A decontamination site had been prepared at the exercise area that was part of the Armed Forces Base at the Crystal Palace, also a team of researchers was waiting for the sample there.
"You two are going nowhere before you're not properly decontaminated and you've been tested negative to the virus. Until then you'll stay put there. Sorry, but safety first. And with safety I mean the safety of seven billion people. Sorry SunTzu."
The Bavarian Pilot had been expecting something like that.
"It's cool. Can I at least get something for dinner there?" He just replied.
"I'll make sure that you'll get the best military ration you'll ever down there." Ami answered with a smile.
Crystal Tokyo Flight Control navigated SunTzu and AICA to the decontamination site and they sat down.
SunTzu got out and was immediately greeted by two soldiers in NBC suits, one of them a medic.
A bloods sample and two swabs were taken from him before he was lead to a nearby tent, where he was decontaminated, in a military and profound, but not exactly gentle, way while outside a team of NBC specialists began to decontaminate AICA.
Ten minutes later, sitting around in military issued shorts, long johns, two shirts and a rescue blanket around him, at least it wasn't freezing at night in Tokyo yet, not that it was warm though, someone brought him a hot tea and a warm military ration to the front of the tent for him to take.
SunTzu smiled as he realized that his deteriorating mood began to get better again. At least the troopers still treated him like one of their own when they had received and decontaminated him. Even more, they treated him still like someone they looked up to, and even though he wasn't a part of Taskforce Sol anymore the troopers didn't stop to track his deeds in the War. He even could hear that one of the new guys was in complete awe when he heard who that pilot was. His comrade just laughed and told him to relax, as the Captain was one of theirs. It felt great to SunTzu, to still be one of the comrades.
SunTzu waited one hour in the tent before it's door was opened again and this time it wasn't a soldier in an NBC-Suit or a researcher in a Hazmat-Suit but the Co-Commander of Taskforce Sol's Medical Detachment, Lieutant Colonel Dr. Setsuna Meiou. And she was dressed in an one-way protective surgical gown, safety glasses and a filter mask and also had her insanely long hair stowed under a one way scrub cap and apart from that immense aura of power she emitted, he only recognized her because of those ruby eyes that so often seemed to long for something, or someone.
"Doc, I see you're back from Mercury. Wanting to personally congratulate me for saving this planet, it's inhabitants and the way we life?"
To his surprise he could hear a small giggle from her and not the expected annoyed remark.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you but no medals, parades and headlines for you this time, big hero of the Earth and the Alliance." She replied.
"Really? How can I go on then?" He in turn replied ironically. "When did you get here? Is Ami back as well?"
"I got here thirty minutes ago, Ami is still at Mariner Castle and overlooking things from up there. She bids her greetings and congratulates you to the successful job. It seems that the PLA doesn't have any idea what happened. The lab was destroyed and I just talked to the research team, together with the data you and AICA provided, we'll have a vaccine and medication in no time. We already could strike a deal with a manufacturer of medications which holds capacities available for us to mass produce the vaccine."
"What about the agent that supported me?"
"Ami knew that you would ask. He made it out safe and without being hold up."
SunTzu smiled.
"That's great to hear, he risked a lot."
"As did you."
"And still I don't get a parade."
She shook her head and smiled again under her mask.
"But at least I got your test result."
SunTzu's eyes widened, maybe he could finally leave this place again.
"Don't tantalize me then, it's three in the morning." He said, his voice being far from angry or impolite though.
"Negative. You're not infected. But I need you to stay in quarantine for another fourty-eight hours."
SunTzu's face darkened.
"Im sorry, I just want to make sure you're really not contagious. With the data we have, I can say that if another test is negative the day after tomorrow as well you're good to leave."
SunTzu let out an unnerved sigh.
"I know it's not what you wanted to hear but you know what's at stake."
Setsuna shot him a sympathetic smile he couldn't see because her mask.
"It's almost Christmas, see it as possibility to get your Christmas shopping in. In peace. Over the Internet of course though."
SunTzu stared at her, eyebrow raised before he wheezed.
"Fine. But please tell me I don't have to stay in this tent, the next fourty-eight hours."
"Of course not. We prepared a… place for you."
This sounds like it's not gonna be much of an upgrade from this tent…
"Since I'm doing this for the sake of humanity." SunTzu reluctantly agreed to come along.
"Hero, through and through. Even in long johns." Setsuna replied and chuckled.
SunTzu was placed in a room of a storage facility on the base.
At least he had a field bed and running water in a room next to him.
He spent most of his quarantine resting, trying to finally catch up on his sleep deficit, something which he carefully had built up since ever he had come out of that Bacta Tank on Kamino over nine months ago. Other than that he was bored and not being able to leave the room didn't make it any better. He did a lot of physical exercises but one can only train so much and so, after the first twenty hours, he really did as Setsuna had suggested and began Christmas shopping. Before he begun, he contacted AICA.
She had been decontaminated and disinfected, two times.
"Where are you AICA? In your hangar?"
"No. I'm at space right now."
"Space? Why?"
"After I heard that you're in quarantine and I wasn't I decided to contact Hotaru. We're on a training mission with Terra against the ESDF right now."
"Hi SunTzu!" Hotaru chimed in.
"Hi Kiddo, how you doing?"
"I'm in space, I'm in AICA, I'll have a mock dogfight against a squadron of A-9s soon. You could say everything is going pretty perfect right now."
SunTzu had to smile, although he was a bit shocked to hear that AICA was in space at first, he now was happy that she and Hotaru were training together.
"But how are you? Aren't you like bored to death?" Hotaru asked him.
"Im trying to make the best out of it. AICA, could you sent me a detailed description of our liquid assets on my phone please?"
"Sure thing."
"Let me guess, Christmas Shopping? I read once that in Europe the kids write a letter to Santa Clause with what they want as a gift. Should have done that as well, who would have known that my rich mentor is back for Christmas." Hotaru joked with him and both, she and SunTzu, had to laugh.
"Something like that, although where I'm from, it's not Santa Clause. But first of all, you'll only get gifts if you have been a good child. And I remember someone always sneaking out in the night."
"Hey, that was for a good cause. You know that I'm well-behaving young lady."
They laughed again and SunTzu noticed that Hotaru's self-confidence had made a huge improvement after she had become a pilot.
Maybe the girls were right. Pilots are cocky.
"Ill ask your mom about that." SunTzu replied.
"Hey! Not fair."
"So if you behaved all year, then why it's a problem?" SunTzu joked with the teenager and both laughed. "But honestly, yes, you have been good. And diligent."
"Thank you. Please tell that to Santa Clause then."
"If I'll see him, I'll let him know."
Both laughed again.
"It was nice to talk to you but I gotta get ready for the exercise. I hope to see you soon. If you're out of quarantine."
"Yeah, hopefully both soon. Kick their asses. Bye Hotaru, bye AICA."
"Bye SunTzu." Both AI and Pilot said unisono and ended the call.
SunTzu had to smile, he couldn't remember his real name or his birthday but still knew about the Christmas traditions of his home place.
A few minutes later AICA sent a message, that they had won the first round and also the summary of their liquid capital. AICA hadn't stopped investing and SunTzu had over ten million Galactic Credits in the bank again.
Enough for the special gift he wanted to make the Royals and the Kingdom for treating him so well this year. Something a developed planet like Earth really should have, although he would have need to get some favors in to get it here.
Fourty hours in, it knocked on the door of the room and SunTzu expected to get the tablet with his dinner.
He was surprised to see that the door opened and Setsuna, dressed in medical protective equipment again, entered. She was carrying a tray.
"Hello Setsuna, didn't expect you to be the one to bring me my dinner."
"Good evening, SunTzu. I thought it might be nice for your mental health to have someone visit you, instead of just putting a tray in front of the door."
"That's… kind. Usually I at least have AICA around to talk to, but this time i'm like really alone."
"Who, together with Hotaru, says hi."
She put down the tray on the small camping table, which was in the room and then sat down on one of the two camping chairs next to it.
SunTzu looked at her surprised.
"I know it's a bit disconcerting with me in my PPE."
"No, not at all. I just wasn't expecting you to stay while I eat."
"If you prefer to eat alone…" She was ready to stand up again.
"No, no. Not at all. I'm just surprised. That's it."
Setsuna sat down again as did SunTzu.
His eyes widened when he looked at the food. He had gotten food from the dinning hall, which was good as always but this here definitely wasn't from the dining hall.
"I cooked too much for our dinner tonight. So I packed the rest and brought it for you. I hope you like Pesto."
"Sure, I love Pasta and Italian Cuisine." SunTzu replied as he saw the triangular shaped pasta with the green pesto.
"These are called Testaroli." Setsuna said as he looked at his food.
"Never had these."
"They are homemade by me. I learned to do them at one of my stays in Italy." He looked at her, as he didn't expect so much work for him.
"Can't wait to try them." He said with a smile, he was really hungry now and grabbed a fork.
"Guten Appetit." Setsuna said in German as he put the fork into the first piece.
"Danke." SunTzu replied, and then jolted up.
"You forgot I speak a bit of German?" Setsuna smiled of him and he nooded. How long had it been since he had spoken in his mother tongue?
"Du solltest essen." She said a few moments later and SunTzu nodded and began to eat.
"Wow, this is great. And it really tastes authentic Italian."
Setsuna smiled and watched him eat, after a few more moments she began to ask.
"Are you feeling well? Any signs of being Ill, flu like symptoms or similar?"
SunTzu swallowed his bite down and the shook his head.
"No, I feel fine. Quarantine sucks tho, I have to admit."
"I know. But you're almost through." Setsuna tried to liften his spirits up.
After his dinner Setsuna left the room again and SunTzu was alone with his thoughts again. It was nice that she had visited him.
He went to sleep soon, so he'd be fit when the fourty eight hours were over.
Punctual at three a medic in a hazmat suit came and took samples.
SunTzu instinctively knew it would take some time so he went back to sleep.
When he woke up in the morning he was surprised, and quite pissed, that there were no results yet.
Hours passed and another test was done.
Ami called him up and excused to SunTzu, the researchers were all busy with developing the vaccine as fast as they could, so the test had to wait.
She was in Ryo's office at the Crystal Tokyo University with her husband, and both were helping the team with the University's super computer.
SunTzu tried to make the best out of it with exercising and sleeping again. Before she would just stand around he allowed AICA and Hotaru to follow the Nomad's Luck and the Companion on a small patrol mission at the CTE, meaning Hotaru would also get some crucible mission time with AICA in. Both were very happy and that made it worth it for SunTzu to not be able to leave the Earth until tomorrow noon.
It was late afternoon when the door to his room finally opened and a researcher came in, wearing just a face mask and rubber gloves.
The man told SunTzu that he was free to go now, all tests had been negative. And that the vaccine was nearing it's completion, the data SunTzu procured helped more than immensely.
Although he was wearing gloves the man shook SunTzu's hand and thanked him.
"You saved countless lives, Captain."
And although he was pissed by being quarantined for so long, SunTzu had to admit, that it felt good to hear this. And he was glad, that the virus wouldn't become a global problem.
SunTzu left the building and as soon as he was out, looked into the sky, it began to get dark already but it was a beautiful sunset and took a long and deep breather, filling his lungs with the fresh air.
Sweet, sweet freedom.
He just had gotten info today, that something special, was finally ready for him to take in Azabu.
Time to reward myself for saving the Earth.
Something had made her wake up in the middle of the night and no matter how much she tried she couldn't get back to sleep.
Outside the moon fell into her window and as she looked out of said window, she had to admit it was a beautiful night.
The woman had the sudden urge to drive through the night and so she got up and a few minutes later, left for her car.
Although it would be Christmas in two days, the temperatures at night were still above the freezing point, which meant there was no ice or snow on the streets and she didn't need to care about it. The city was pretty empty as it was a Tuesday but even when it's streets were empty, the cities' lights never stopped to shine.
Soon she headed for the bridges to Crystal Tokyo.
After leaving the base, as fast as he could, he took a cab to Azabu and the Lamborghini dealership there.
Finally the car he had ordered weeks ago had arrived. The 770 hp ex factory hadn't been enough for him, so he had it tuned and also had gotten a new paint job applied.
The super sports car was now completely painted in black, except for two dark grey stripes, just like AICA was colored.
SunTzu couldn't wait to take the car out for a spin.
When he left the dealership it was dark and he drove the car through Azabujuban and the city, turning heads, while Tokyo's neon lights reflected on the car's windows and brightly polished frame.
After a long round through the city and a late dinner he came out of a ramen spot and got back into the car. It was close to midnight by now.
He had gotten a feeling for the car by now and wanted to see how it really would perform, so he left Akihabara, where he had dinner, and steered the car outside of the city, onto the highway leading to the Fuji.
Driving the high powered car, which already shot forward with just a minimal step on the gas, gave a certain feeling of freedom and was a nice compensation for the two days of quarantine.
SunTzu was wide awake, although it was the middle of the night, as he took a turn and navigated the car back to the city. It was time to really find out how powerful this car was and so after getting back to the City, the pilot headed for one of the bridges to Crystal Tokyo. The bridges didn't have a speed limit, by request of both the king and the kingdom's most famous ex-motorsport-champion.
She could sense him even before his car appeared in her rearview.
Damn, how fast was he actually going? She was going over 200 km/h but that black monster of car behind her closed up like it was nothing. She was surprised as she then noticed that she could sense him again.
She had driven over the bridge connecting Azabujuban with Crystal Tokyo and even took a small break to have a cigarette at a parking lot, overlooking old Tokyo as it lay on the other side of the bay, the Tokyo Tower being directly under the moon and the city's lights lightening up the night sky, before heading back to Tokyo. The driving soothed her down, although she didn't know what it was, what had troubled her. Or had she just not want to really think about what bothered her?
Nevertheless she took another round and pushed her red Porsche to the limit back to Crystal Tokyo.
As the black super sports car came closer she noticed that it was a Lamborghini Aventador and that it had the same paint job AICA had been painted in and if she would have need any other proof that it was her ex-boyfriend in that car, she had it now.
I see you finally got yourself a Lamborghini.
She had to smile about the paint job, of course he had to paint it like AICA.
But then her smile vanished, AICA was probably the only constant that he still had in his life right now so it made sense to paint a thing he would like in the color of his closest and most loyal companion. And AICA always had been his first love, not that there was any competition between them, but SunTzu wasn't SunTzu without AICA.
SunTzu almost had catched up with Rei, he had sensed her already when she had appeared in his view. And who else would drive a red Porsche to Crystal Tokyo in the middle of the night? Maybe she was heading for the Palace. Or even her Office, after all Rei always had been diligent and duteous.
SunTzu was just a few meters away now and Rei took another glance at the rear view.
"Not so fast, TopGun." She pushed her pedal down and the Porsche began to accelerate, increasing the distance between the two cars again.
"Oh, you want to play Moeru Shōjo?" SunTzu spoke out to himself and accelerated his black Lamborghini as well.
The Porsche was a torough sports car and Rei was almost driving 300 km/h now but it really wasn't a match for the tuned up Italian supersportscar.
After a few moments the Lamborghini pulled up on her right and she just knew that he was looking over at her, although she couldn't see inside his car.
SunTzu knew that she was looking over at him and for a moment he could have sworn their gazes met.
And then he focused his gaze back on the street and accelerated away, seeing Rei's Porsche, apparently she had slowed down a bit by then, vanish in the rearview.
And then it hit him. For the first time in weeks he had, more or less, looked her in the eyes. And he noticed it hadn't hurt anymore when he did so.