A few days after the Royal Ascot the Taskforce was back in business and back in Space, more specifically in the Coveway System.

The tiny name-giving planet of the sector had been attacked by a small force of enemy forces, a small flotilla of pirates, augmented with some ground forces and TIE-Bombs.

The Space Battle was short as the enemy armada, two enemy frigates, a corvette and a strike cruiser fell victim to the whole strength of Taskforce Sol's three Cruisers, it's Carrier-Corvette and it's fighter complement.

Shortly after, Serenity's Wolves, the Scout Company and First Bataillon were flown down to the planet to engage the enemy, a rag-tag militia.

Those battles were short lived as well and just after thirty hours in the system the Taskforce was back to patrol and scout missions as combat has seized.

The mission had been almost too easy with no casualties taken and more injuries taken from accidents than from actual combat.

The moral in the whole Taskforce was high and while Crystal Tokyo's expeditionary force waited for relief to move on to the next battle, the Earthlings allowed themselves some little pleasures.

If one could call Dr. Minako Aino's and Captain Makoto Kino's Yoga Class pleasurable.

The long time vigilante/ pop idol and the mother of Crystal Tokyo's Special Forces made sure that even the next most flexible Senshi was pushed to her limits. Not to mention the Princess and the Neo Queen who were gasping for air and giving away sounds of physical pain after the very first minutes.

SunTzu who had once again wondered where all the Senshi were had been informed by his Admiral, who was in accompany of his daughter , that all the Senshi as well as his wife were having a yoga class down in the belly of the Eternal.

Since he had to wait for at least three of them he decided to at least ask when three quarters of the Outers would estimate that they were ready to get back to their actual job.

He knew he was right, when he found Yuichiro posted up in front of one of the doors to the larger training rooms.

"Ohayo, SunTzu. If you're looking for the Senshi they're in there. But I don't suggest going in there."

"Morning. And why would that be?"

"Sensory overload."

SunTzu shot Yuichiro a skeptical look garnished with a raised eyebrow and then decided to head inside nonetheless. He wanted to get shit done and wasn't in the mood to wait forever for the three women.

SunTzu knocked at the door of the room and after a moment he entered.

The image that greeted him was ethereal.

Eleven of the most beautiful women the Galaxy had ever seen were inside there in short, body-hugging clothes in some very, very articulated positions.

Immediately he began to blush, even before someone noticed him.

"SunTzu! Can we help you?" Minako asked knowing very well of the sight she gave in the pose she was in.

"Err… I… I'll wait outside for the other pilots. S-sorry."

Fully understanding what Yuichiro meant by now, rushed back to the door.

"SunTzu." It came from the side and agile like an emerald-haired cat, Setsuna rolled up on her long limbs agile as she was a Mau in it's cat form and got up.

SunTzu's shoes made a screeching noise as he came to a hold, his cheeks still burning and the sensations even overwriting the fact that he still wasn't at the best of terms with the Senshi of Time and Space.

It was pretty obvious that he had to control himself to not look to back out of reflex.

Setsuna closed up to him, wiping the sweat out of her face with a towel.

As she was next to him, SunTzu finally looked at her and immediately blushed again, the last time he had seen her exhausted but content like that, , the pearls of sweat dripping down her neck were hypnotizing, had been when they had slept with each other. Which felt like it had been an eternity ago. Or a universe apart.

"What's the matter?" SunTzu asked to distract from his uncertainty.

"I need to talk with you. There's something else about myself I want you to know." She finished wiping her face. "Don't worry it's not bad news for once, just something I want you to know."

SunTzu's eyes narrowed slightly, at least it wasn't bad news, but still.

"Okay, when?"

"Let's say before lunch? At my office?"

"I'll be there."

And then he turned away and rushed out of the room.

His sudden departure with his cheeks glowing in bright red even made Setsuna smile as she walked back to her yoga-mat.

"Congratulations Ladies, you broke our Kraut!" Haruka yelled as most of the Senshi began to laugh.


SunTzu didn't wait at the door, Yuichiro's "Told you so.", made him leave to the starfighter squadrons common rooms, where he waited instead.

A few hours and the joyous experience of a cursing Haruka because her body was aching immensly later, SunTzu arrived at the med bay and made his way to Dr. Meiou's office.

He knocked on the door and Setsuna told him to come inside.

She sat at her desk, glasses on her head and tons of paper work around her. So much for the little daydream he had earlier that she was waiting for him, just her doctor's coat on. Something which would have sped up their reconciliation immensely but things apparently didn't work like this in this universe.

"Is it already…" Setsuna glanced at the clock on the computer monitor in front of her "…Holy Chronos, i really forget the time while working."

SunTzu stood there wordlessly and while this maybe was not the greeting he had secretly wished for and he still could feel that he was still hurted, he also couldn't help but to admit that she was incredibly cute in this moment.

"Sorry… you know how things are with the paper work. Please take a seat."

While she motioned at the chair opposite of her side of the table SunTzu sat down.

"You wanted to talk."

SunTzu tried to dissemble that this sounded harsher than he had wanted to. Or did he? It was his good right after all.

Setsuna nodded slowly, hiding the disappointment that he still was angered at her visible on her face with it.

"Indeed. There's something else I want you to know about me."

SunTzu didn't comment or reply but his gaze fixed her, although she had said different before he expected some more bad news.

Setsuna noticed his silence, and to not make it anymore awkward she cleared her throat.

"You probably wonder where I've been before Ascot."

"I guess you went to the Door of Space and Time."

"Yes, but not only that. As you know, I'm the daughter of a god."

"It's kind of hard to grasp, but yes."

"As such, you have to know that I not only report to the Crown of Crystal Tokyo but in terms of things that treat the safety of Time and Space or the realm of the gods themselves also to my father."

SunTzu gave the smallest of nods, it wasn't the revelation that made his facial features hard, it was the thought that he never would be good enough for a being like her. No wonder she probably wouldn't have a problem to exterminate him.

Setsuna sighed when she thought about the talk with her father.

"He doesn't exactly like if people get to know about my abilities of time- and multiverse-traveling." A small pause. "Or if someone else uses it without me taking care of it."

SunTzu at first just replied with a single nod again, he very much could imagine that Setsuna's father, apparently the god of time himself wanted to see him neutralized as well. At least after the Herald had been taken care of.

"I see, probably one of the points why I can't stay here, after my services are no longer needed."

Setsuna had a pokerface on when she answered.

"That is indeed mostly to avoid any consequences in the Flow of Space and Time. And your face tells me enough, you're not fair game for my father."

"We will see." SunTzu said, deadpanning. "But since I'm here and you're willing to tell me the truth about things, how does it feel to always stitch me up and then knowing that you might be the one to kill me."

"You know, I'm really not into the sarcastic asshole you're becoming lately. I apologized!" It exploded out of Setsuna.

Without even noticing she had jumped up and now had her hands on the table.

SunTzu got up slowly, fixing his uniform's tie.

"There are emotions, who would have thought that."

"You… "

He put his hands on the table and leaned forward as well.

"Do you really think you're in the position to be angry?"

Their faces were just a few mere centimeters apart and in both their eyes shined a fire when suddenly an alarm began to blare loudly.

Setsuna's eyes immediately widened and SunTzu noticed that something was shocking her.

"What's…"

"The alarm for mass casualties!"


A few minutes before, surface of Coveway:

Captain Makoto Kino, leading Officer of Serenity's Wolves had gotten a different command than usual for this operation.

Since infantry officers still were kind of hard to come by, Makoto had been assigned an infantry company of the First Batallion to lead on Coveway.

And although it was their first deployment with these young individuals under her she was already immensely proud of her soldiers, these soldiers were fine warriors. And as always she treated them like a lioness would treat her cubs and so far it had worked out quite well, with only two minor wounded.

From time to time small pockets of resistance still fought on, which meant that the ground forces of Sol were almost fully deployed to Covent and were searching for and engaging the last of the enemy forces.

Makoto's company's three platoons were out near a middle-sized settlement and patrolling. Makoto was in between two of them with her company staff and the company's weapons squad.

Her first platoon had reported a bunch of droids engaging them and the Platoon Leader had gotten the permission to close in and destroy them.

Makoto had spent most of her time on the planet near or with First Platoon and although a professional she almost felt the same for these soldier as for the Commandos.

She was kneeling down, having the hand microphone of her RTO's radio in her hand and was waiting for First Platoon's leader's, a twenty-six year old Irishman, answer if he needed more firepower, looking over to one of the machine gun teams of the weapon squadron, ready to move up to their comrades. Lieutenant Byrne had been already leading the platoon on several occasions before and Makoto was pretty sure he had the situation under control.

But seeing those guys in action wouldn't hurt as well, Makoto turned to her Company NCO.

"Sergeant, I'll have myself a first hand look, I'll take one of the MG-teams with me."

"Aye Ma'am." Was the short answer of the Australian NCO.

Together with the two men of the machine gun team she began to rush towards where First Platoon was fighting with the droids.

Just a few minutes later Makoto and the other two soldiers could not only hear the battle but also make out the first of the soldiers from First Platoon.

She had been in radio contact with the Lieutenant leading it. Apparently they had made it so that the enemy droids had been almost surrounded and now the platoon was closing in on the enemy's position.

By itself a great maneuver from First Platoon but something didn't sit right with it in Makoto's mind.

As she and the machine gun team approached, a few hundred meters away from their own soldier's position they slowed down and got more careful to not be hit by a stray blaster bolt.

Makoto could clearly see her soldiers now and also where they had the enemy almost encircled at, a heap of earth.

When Makoto saw that heap of Earth something inside her made her stop dead in her tracks and also the hair in her neck tingling.

And then everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The enemy had used Tie-Bombs, a speciality of that enemy General Phyncx. The General who had used that goddamn mine trap to wipe out SunTzu's Platoon.

Her eyes bulged as she pushed down the send-button on her push-to-talk-device but it was too late. A bright flash occurred and then, just a few hundred meters away, the around the heap ground lifted up while the explosion swallowed everything in a hundred meters radius and sent shrapnel flying into any direction in at least a diameter of three hundred meters.

First platoon never had a chance.


"Maria, take care that the examination units are empty." Setsuna said as she grabbed one of the emergency backpacks in one of the storage rooms, door open. She swung it on her back and turned to the next nurse, a Ukrainian woman.

"Alexa, get all the doctors and medical personnel."

And then she began to leave the med bay with fast steps, hurrying over to the flight decks with gunships to bring her down to Coveway. But she wasn't alone, someone had been in her lee all the time.

"Why are you still here?"

"Someone has to get you down there and you know, that me and AICA are the fastest meanings."

Not stopping Setsuna closed her eyes for a moment and swallowed hard, as much as she hated to admit it right now, he was right. And since ever the alarm his horrible demeanor had changed into all professionalism.

"Fine."

As soon as she had said that, SunTzu brought his communicator up.

"AICA, heat up the engines, we're responding to that Mass Casualty Event."


Twenty minutes later SunTzu stood on a small knoll and looked down to the crater the explosion of the trap had made.

Down there medics were busy with the gruesome task to collect the remains of Makoto's First Platoon.

SunTzu's face was tired as he watched and just meters next to him sat Makoto, bawling her eyes out, wailing for her soldiers.

Minako was kneeing next to her, trying to calm her down.

Setsuna was already back on the Eternal, trying to save the lives of the few survivors of the platoon. She had sprung into action before AICA even had touched down and had immediately begun to triage the wounded and start live-saving measures. She also had SunTzu do cardiac massage on a young soldier, to keep him alive.

As SunTzu looked down he noticed that Rhian Davis's brother was down there, near the crater as well.

Their gazes met and both shared a silent conversation, they knew who had done this. The cowardly attack had been the work of General Phyncx, the man who had killed SunTzu's platoon and Owen Davis's sister.


A few hours later SunTzu entered the med bay of the Eternal, on his way to see Makoto.

Although she was the commanding officer of the most elite unit Taskforce Sol and Crystal Tokyo had, she never had lost a soldier until today and loosing twenty-seven at once had broken her.

Minako had to give her tranquilizers and then had her brought to the med bay to have an eye on her friend.

Kenji had already been waiting in the med bay and hadn't moved away from his wife's side since then.

Except for a nurse at the foyer the entrance of the med bay was quiet as all the medical personnel was busy with the wounded.

SunTzu had given AICA over to Hotaru to support the Taskforce's efforts to not only wipe the enemy off of the small planet that Coveway was but also to find any trace of General Phyncx.

Ami had literally locked herself inside her office, being hurt personally by the shock her best friend had gotten from loosing her soldiers.

"Ah, Captain. I'm sorry but I don't think Doctor Meiou has time for you. Neither does Doctor Aino."

"Thank you, Nurse Ito but I'm actually looking for Captain Kino."

The seriousness in his voice let the nurse know enough that she wouldn't try to stop the pilot from visiting his friend, at least if she wasn't sleeping and was stable. Nurse Ito had seen SunTzu after he had lost his platoon and she had learned enough in this War that sometimes it was best if people talked to each other that understood each other's pain and if there was someone who would then it would be Captain SunTzu.

"Follow me." She said and got up.

When they arrived in front of the room Makoto was in, Nurse Ito knocked on the door and opened it after a moment.

Kenji was sitting next to Makoto's hospital bed, while she was laying and staring at the ceiling with empty eyes.

"Captain Kino, you have a visitor."

Makoto only moved her head and she took a moment before she replied.

"Who is it?" It was Kenji who asked.

"Captain SunTzu."

This made Makoto look at Kenji and when their gazes met, Makoto nodded one time.

The nurse opened the door completely and motioned SunTzu inside and after he had entered she closed the door behind her.

To the Kenji's surprise, Makoto addressed her husband and not SunTzu first.

"Kenji, would you be so kind and give me and SunTzu a moment?"

Kenji looked at his wife for a moment and then got up.

He and SunTzu nodded respectfully at each other as he passed the pilot and then Kenji left the room.

Meanwhile Makoto was staring at the ceiling again.

SunTzu closed the distance to the hospital bed and stopped a step in front of it and while she looked at the ceiling, he looked down at the floor.

"It hurts. I didn't even know them close but… it hurts, you know."

"Like you lost your little siblings you were keen to watch over… I know."

Makoto closed her eyes for a moment after SunTzu had confirmed that he felt the same. It took a moment before she spoke again.

"Does the guilt get any better?"

"It always will come back in those dark and lonely nights."

Another pause, SunTzu's gaze now had settled on his friend.

"I called in a few favors from you know which spy on Coruscant to exchange information regarding Phyncx for something a certain Gungan friend of mine wanted to know about. I'm going to get Phyncx. Are you with me?"

Makoto took another moment to think about it. The tactician and warrior in her screamed to not do something imprudent but before she could object SunTzu specified where he would go next.

"Phyncx is a goddamn phantom but I have a lead that's going to Hutt Space, Nar Shaddaa."

"Who is in the team?"

"Just me. AICA drops me off at Kashyyyk and then I'm on my own. Which also means I can do with Phyncx whatever I want when I get to him."

Makoto needed a moment but then she turned to SunTzu.

"Count me in." She said, her voice heavy.

SunTzu nodded slowly and Makoto sat up.

"We're leaving immediately?" She asked.

"Don't rush things, I need you at a hundred."

"Tomorrow noon, don't worry I'll be at full capacity by then."

"Fine, I'll be ready. I'll get some rest."

That said, the Guardian of Guardians turned around and headed back out of the door.


SunTzu had packed accordingly to not be traced back to the Taskforce or the GFFA at all. Hooded clothes would mask his more or less well-known face although he was pretty sure he wasn't exactly a big gun in Hutt Space.

The Bavarian had been sitting in AICA, preparing the start, early today. He had cleared the mission with Ami and the leadership of the Taskforce yesterday still. He had made sure that not going wasn't an option for him. It was Artemis who had told him, that they couldn't bring him over his revenge, something Cilghal had followed with an advice to whatever would happen to stay on the dark side. Her cold gaze was enough that SunTzu needed to know and Setsuna immediately popped up in his mind.

"Revenge is not the Jedi way, but as I already told Grandmaster Skywalker. I'm not a Jedi. And if you ask me, Master Jedi, bringing General Phyncx to justice is a service to the Galaxy and the Federation."

SunTzu had stood his ground in the following duel of gazes.

It had been the Neo Queen who had solved the tension in the room with wishing the best to SunTzu and making him promise to come back. As always she still was devastated by the loss of her soldiers and telling SunTzu to come back was more of a plead than anything.

This morning SunTzu had said goodbye to the others, except Setsuna of course. He had told himself that both were too busy to say goodbye anyways and he shouldn't go over to the med bay.

SunTzu checked his chrono, in five minutes it would be noon on the ship's time cycle.

As he looked up, the door to the hangar opened and Makoto, dressed as the perfect grey woman, stepped into it.

She headed straight for AICA.

"Good to go?"

"Kenji isn't exactly happy about it and thank god Ami is such a professional or she would have protested as well." Makoto said as she swung herself up into the cockpit.

"But all of them, including Usagi-Chan know that I, we both, have to do this. She's still crying about them, that bastard Phyncx broke all three of us."

"And that's why we will get him." SunTzu answered with a quiet voice while he looked at one of AICA's monitors to check the fuel.

Suddenly a blonde head with a red bow popped up next to the cockpit.

SunTzu's corner of the mouth twitched slightly as Minako said her exuberant goodbye to Makoto.

A few moments later, SunTzu had been busy to check everything and let AICA know, that Hotaru was in charge in his absence, Minako, standing on a ladder, shifted from Makoto's seat in the back to SunTzu.

"Please, bring back my Mako-Chan in one piece. And yourself as well."

"That's at least the plan. Don't want to give you more work than you already have."

Two small smiles met and then Minako left the ladder.

SunTzu was at the verge of closing the cockpit, outside the rest of the Court had assembled, when another person propped up next to him.

The woman smiled and nodded friendly at Makoto before she turned to SunTzu, her face becoming austere.

"I don't like this. What if you give into your anger and fall into the dark?"

"You don't have to like this, as it's my own decision. I'm tired of being an asset."

SunTzu's face was as severe as Setsuna's was.

After a moment she sighed and turned her head away for the length of it.

"At least take care of the two of you."

"Will do." SunTzu looked her in the eyes for a moment, both their faces softening a bit. "See you."

She nodded slowly and then stepped back from the cockpit and left the ladder while SunTzu closed the canopy.

A mechanic pulled the ladder back as Setsuna stopped a few meters away from AICA.

SunTzu started AICA's repulsors and lifted her up.

Setsuna and his gaze met again and she couldn't help but to cross her hands in front of her chest.

Come back soon, you damn troublemaker…