"This is just like Glee Anselm."
"Yeah, except that the Locals loved us a wee bit more there."
SunTzu shrugged, not turning his gaze off from under his laser-designator as he looked over the berm he, Hulk and Rudy were laying on, which separated a valley full of vegetation in a multitude of colors, and waited for the confirmation that their air support had locked on the laser target he was projecting on the small rebel camp a few hundred meters away in the middle of the jungle on the planet of Nyros. Nyros only real continent was mostly covered in jungle and it also contained a vast ocean, so apart from that continent a multitude of reefs, sandbanks, islands of varying sizes and atolls made up the land of the planet, which itself was located in a small solar system in Southern Wild Space.
"Bombs away. See you for breakfast." Hotaru's voice came in over SunTzu's headset.
"Copy, Firefly."
Hulk, his machine gun pointed at the embedment at the front gate of the rebel base looked up, he couldn't make out AICA in the light of dawn, the A-Wing was flying too high and also flying with relative slow, subsonic speed for sound reducing reasons.
But if he couldn't make out the carrier he might could spot the laser guided bomb that was now gliding towards the rebel camp.
"Incoming." Rudy informed the rest of the team via radio.
The explosion of the smart bomb and the secondary explosions caused by ammunition and fuel blowing up, destroyed most of the camp and killed most of its inhabitants.
Fleeing rebels were cut down from the Commandos having laid in waiting in pairs in a ring around and the camp and when the explosions stopped from two sides the Commandos then approached the camp.
A few wounded rebels who somehow had survived the bombing were stabilized by Boots and then when the Larties came in to exfiltrate SunTzu and Team 1 they were packed onboard as well.
Onboard the Eternal, Minako and a team of medics, escorted by a group of armed Royal Guards took over the wounded enemies and as SunTzu climbed out of the Lartie he had been flown back he immediately changed the hangar to the one where AICA and Hotaru had landed.
Hotaru was sitting at the edge of the cockpit and was finishing her after-action-reports as he arrived, still moist and dirty from lying in ambush at the jungle floor. As he had entered Karlena already had commented that she sure hoped he wouldn't dirty her hangar or otherwise he'd be cleaning it fully.
"Finishing the paperwork?" He asked as he arrived at his starfighter and Hotaru looked up.
"Wow, you are… mucky."
"Perks of being with the infantry."
"Glad I got to fly this mission then. Listen, why you don't get clean and changed and we meet in the dinning hall in fifteen?"
SunTzu looked at his protégé for a second before he answered.
"Yes Ma'am, will do Ma'am." SunTzu commented dry on Hotaru's take on military hierarchy but he couldn't help but to smile after seeing her remember protocol.
"Your mom's at the med bay I presume?"
"A certain air strike brought in a lot of blast injuries. At least they were all enemy combatants."
Now at breakfast, SunTzu almost commented with Good effect on target but before he could make the cynic remark he thought better of it. At least Hotaru shouldn't get a dose of the sense of deep-dark humor one develops when your life is constantly on the line.
"They're individuals nonetheless."
"As all of us are. And the victims of this rebellion."
SunTzu didn't answer, Jedi or not, the young Senshi had a point. And this rebellion had taken genocidal characteristics, which had reminded SunTzu on the hellish violence the Red Khmer had unleashed on Cambodia.
Wordlessly he continued to eat.
The two pilots finished their meal and after that they went on to their quarters, both of them had been awake most of the night.
"See you in a few hours." SunTzu said his goodbye for the time being to Hotaru.
"You're still on the ground later on, right?"
Hotaru asked in front of their rooms and SunTzu nodded.
"I'm out again with Team 1, reconnaissance."
"Then you should get some sleep."
"I heard there's still some enemy fighters left , not to mention the enemy AA. You too."
A parental smile draw a smile from a child that felt protected.
"Hear you on the net then."
"Affirmative Lieutenant. Sleep well."
Nyros was located inside a contested system of the same name, the rebellion, fighting against the GA-loyal government, supplied by the Forces of Chaos with ammos, weapons and military advisers, was on the winning side against the rather poorly-equipped government troops.
Nevertheless the GA only stepped in when starships of the Forces of Chaos, or rather Secessionist Movement as opposing In-State-Forces had been labeled by the media and the GA's PR-offices nowadays, had showed up in system.
Taskforce Sol had intervened in the system because the horrible reports of violence used against civilians which had found their way on Rei's desk, as member of the Refugee Council of the Senate.
After the Senator had informed the Neo Queen, the King, the Admiral and the Head of Intelligence about what was going on on the planet, the Taskforce immediately steamed off to the system, massively increasing the force designated to intervene, which would have just been a corvette, a small troop transport ship and a frigate, with a few older Y-Wings as only starfighter element.
The small flotilla would have had major problems with the enemy forces in space already, mercenaries, equipped with a Nebulon-H-Frigate and a freighter which had been retrofitted into a carrier which also housed ground troops and their transports, but together with Taskforce Sol the space battle was short, although the crew of the Nebulon-H and the enemy fighter complement were made up of quite potent adversaries, the corvette sustained some minor damage and some of the Y-Wings were shot down as well.
The situation on the ground was different, the rebels, the translation roughly meant Secession National, fought with terror and anyone who didn't cooperated immediately was killed in gruesome ways, not shying away from torture and mass executions. To combat the Secession National the whole ground element of the Taskforce had been deployed.
Galactic Senator Rei Hino was standing in front of a mass grave, a handkerchief pressed against her nose against the stench of decay. The smell was absolutely sickening and the view wasn't any nicer.
The Nyronians were humanoids, with an average height of 1,70 meters and white, scaled skin with colored accents on the scales. They also possessed a small fin on top of their head instead of hair, further giving away the nature of their home planet. The fin also played a large role in finding a mate as the males of the species featured a larger one while the females had more color on their fins.
The dead Nyronians Rei looked at, all had their fins cutten off, a liaison of the government had told her that in local folklore this meant bad luck and no peaceful afterlife for a Nyronians. And the cut off fins were just the beginning, Rei was looking at the mangled corpses, beaten to death, shot, cut up, of men, women and children.
Behind her, Yuichiro, also a handkerchief over his nose, begged her, a hand on her shoulder, trying to turn her away. "Rei, don't look at it."
The raven-haired shook her head. "No, I need to see firsthand what the Secession National has done to these people."
Around her were several soldiers of the Fourth Battalion, Royal Guards and a member of her staff, as well as some local soldiers and an interpreter.
One of the Royal Guards had a camera with him and documented the atrocities with another guard making objective comments about the estimated number of bodies and their deaths as well as the location.
Rei soaked up the gruesome scene for more than a minute, finishing with a silent prayer for these poor souls before she turned to the Royal Guard NCO who documented the scene.
"Sergeant, make sure to sent a copy of the footage to my staff as soon as possible."
"Affirmative, Madame Senator."
Next she turned around and walked away, towards the armored vehicle, which had brought her here.
Her next stop would be the government's makeshift headquarters of this part of the planet.
While Usagi had embarked from the Eternal to the capital of the planet to meet in person with the King of the planet and manage the central relief efforts, Rei had gone to the western province of the small planet where the fighting, and the genocide, had been the worst.
The regional capital and several other cities already had fallen into enemy hands and the city nearby had been under siege until the Taskforce had landed and had started a counterattack.
Sol Brigade and the Rago-Battalion had been deployed to the western part of the planet and while Sol Brigade was engaging the heavy units of the Rebels, which were armed with vehicles captured from the government troops after successfully annexing the local garrison, the Fourth was operating in the nearby jungles of the western main island.
The armored unit of the Taskforce was on a constant move and chasing the enemy, just having a tank didn't meant you could fight effectively with it the rebels soon had learned, especially if you had artillery and airstrikes against you as well.
Rago-Battalion had the harder and more dirty job with hunting local rebels in the exotic rainforests on their assigned part of the planet. But Rago had help from the remaining local troops as well as from Commando Teams 1 and 5. And it had become personal for the battalion, seeing the atrocities against the civilians and the masses of refugees fleeing the war zone had awoken some bad memories on the units eponym planet.
The soldiers fought hard and it was mostly Fourth Battalions doing that the regional capital, Tua'ba hadn't fallen, along with one of the Grandknights and the Senator, who had used her powers to great effect against the enemy after seeing the suffering of the local population firsthand.
Third Battalion was stationed in the planetary capital, Tua'suno, fighting against irregular forces of the rebels in and around the city, which housed around 250.000 inhabitants, as well as protecting the government district.
Commando Team 2 and a whole platoon of Royal Guards were also deployed, the regional base of Sol being a complex of warehouses near the spaceport, which was next to the government district.
And although the enemy fought with guerrilla tactics the Taskforce made good progress against them, a lot of the veterans in the Taskforce had served in Afghanistan, Africa or Iraq before joining the Crystal Kingdom's military.
At last, First Battalion, the Scouts and Team 4 made up a mobile Taskforce within the Taskforce, either supporting the other units or hunting the enemy at locations all over the planet, relying on swift, hard strikes.
Another day passed and SunTzu woke up at around afternoon in the container housing Team 1 was using as their accommodation, having slept in a cot. After yawning, stretching and pulling out the earplugs he used to get some quietness while sleeping, he looked at his watch, a solid five hours of sleep.
The team and him had been out in the jungle since yesterday afternoon, hunting for rebels and had returned at around early noon. A grumble of his stomach reminded him, that he should get something to eat before looking for his orders for today.
Around him some of the team members were in the container too, Dish was sleeping next to him and Hulk and Aussie were chatting quietly, sitting on their cots.
As they saw him get up, Hulk motioned to the door. "Top of the morning, Cap. The Sergeant Major just made a new batch of coffee, army grade. Might wanna grab some."
After personal hygiene, at least it was another tropical hot afternoon so he didn't mind the cold shower as they used rain water for their field shower, SunTzu got a cup of coffee and a meal from a ration.
He just had finished it, when Dish came over and told him that there were apparently new orders for him.
A few minutes later SunTzu appeared in the FOB's command center and after few more minutes he left the building again. The command center had been placed in a small office building, abandoned by its owners, and when SunTzu left he was heading towards the place of the FOB that was designated as landing zone.
On the way two Infantry Mobility Vehicles, basically smaller MRAPs or armored off-road-vehicles, the first one armed with a medium machine gun, drove past him and then suddenly stopped.
The door opened and revealed Rei, standing in it, wearing cargo pants, hiking boots, an open utility shirt with a tank top underneath and a headband to keep her hair back. She looked tired and had rings under her eyes. "SunTzu."
Without a word SunTzu walked up to her. "You look like hell. And I'm the one who spent his night in the jungle."
A wheeze and brief side glance before she replied. "Usagi and me spent most of the last 36 hours pulling strings to get relief and a proper peacekeeping force here."
SunTzu nodded in acknowledgment, his Neo Queen and the Senator sure had become leaders and nowadays tried their best to help the victims of this goddamn war.
"After the office of the Chief of State and Galactic Intelligence weighted in, Eriadu, Sullust and Sluis Van would sent some security forces but only after the overall security situation has significantly improved."
SunTzu looked at his former lover questioningly and she continued.
"They want the threat through armored vehicles gone."
SunTzu nodded, as far as he heard, Sol Brigade and their air support would make sure very soon that this wasn't a problem.
"And they want the leadership of the Secession National gone."
SunTzu's briefly looked at the ground, this was definitely harder. Somehow it seemed that the leadership of the Secession National seemed to be warned from patrols somehow.
A pause before Rei spoke again to SunTzu.
"You heard about the mass graves."
SunTzu nodded slowly, of course he had heard about them and also had seen some of the reports, some real vile shit.
"They even defiled the corpses." Rei continued in a dark tone before she fixed SunTzu again, her face in stone. "Get those bastards."
SunTzu nodded and Rei gave a last tired glance as goodbye before she climbed back into her seat and closed the door. A few seconds later the vehicles drove off again.
A few hours later SunTzu found himself in AICA's cockpit. Hotaru had been ordered to the capital of Nyros. Ami had pulled some strings and now at least the first smuggler and freelancers were delivering aid, but to make sure that the increased traffic was coming in safe, after all parts of the space port, including it's tower had been destroyed in a terror attack by the Secession National, more personnel was needed and since Hotaru was a qualified JTAC it was decided that she would be deployed to the planet while SunTzu was back in AICA until he was needed back on the planet for another tour with one of the Commando Teams.
Intelligence and Command had come to the conclusion that something, maybe a ship, a drone, or a droid was giving reconnaissance data to the rebels, but the Taskforce and the other ships had meticulously scanned and patrolled everything which had come into consideration in space without getting any signs of the enemy.
So now patrols and surveillance flights had been sent out on the planet's atmosphere and surface to find the enemy recon craft.
All kind of surveillance craft already had checked the few mountains, mostly old volcanoes but couldn't find anything so now the Voyager, AICA, Sailor Neptune and SunTzu had been tasked with checking again as Intelligence was near being sure that there was an enemy listening post.
Right now the Voyager was flying towards the second largest volanco of the planet, flanked on its three by AICA.
The sensors of the ship were working, and in the back of the Voyager Michiru was holding her mirror looking for any signs of sensing something off as was SunTzu, concentrating in the Force.
Haruka was flying her ship and suddenly, and although it was a calm day over this part of the planet and furthermore the complete hermetical sealing of the Voyager, the feeling of a breeze of wind was senseable on her right arm and as she turned to where it came from she just knew that down there, at the edge of the volcano the enemy had his listening post.
"AICA, full sensors, southern edge of the volcano."
SunTzu checked the sensors after hearing Haruka's order. "I got none."
"Trust me."
It took a few second but then AICA came in.
"I can't sense any form of life or energy signature but I sense a strange pattern in the vegetation. As if a larger animal is staying there."
"AICA, report to Command. And ask for further orders."
After that SunTzu changed channels back to the Voyager.
"How?"
"It was in the Wind."
"The Wind?" And then he understood. "Didn't know you were psychic too."
"All Senshi are, Bro."
"Now I got them too." Michiru chimed in, the image of the enemy in her mirror, silently and without motion waiting in the jungle on the edge of the crater.
"Me too." SunTzu now felt that odd sensation also, the cold running down his spine. "Daimons."
"Sure as bloody hell."
"Looks like your powers align with ours." Michiru came in before she switched channels. "Command, we got Daimons down here. Permission to engage?"
It took three seconds and the officer on station replied. "Permission granted, you're cleared to engage."
SunTzu's hands flew over the controls as he switched to the SDBs in AICA's weapon bay.
"Well then. AICA, lock-on as soon as you can."
"Copy."
A few minutes later the smoke of the explosion was beginning to clear and SunTzu and AICA circled over the striking point. Apart from the hole in the vegetation some trees had caught fire but since it was a rain forest with regular rain showers a forest fire was unlikely. Team 4 and a platoon of scouts were already on the way to further investigate and search the area.
The loss of their hidden eyes, and ears, as the ground troops found the remains of communication and audio monitoring devices, had sparked the rage of the Secession Nationale and the rebels went on a counter-offensive in the following night.
Cells of the Rebels attacked the bigger cities, partly from within. The attack of then capital m was put down fast with the help of the units of the Taskforce, Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Saturn, some voices also said there had been a second Senshi around, eliminating the enemy from ambushes in the dark with a silenced weapon.
But not everywhere the attack was spoiled as easy as in Tua'suno, otherwise heavy fighting broke out and the Taskforce had to deploy their reserves to several places to help the local security forces.
In Tua'ba, Fourth battalion, Sailor Mars, Grandknight Kumada, Teams 1 and 5 and a company of First Battalion together with heavy air support fought the whole night against irregular fighters and to screen the local population and the refugees which had sought shelter in the city.
By morning the fighting had stopped and to retaliate Sol Brigade had upped their offensive's tempo and now had encircled the last heavy units of the Secession National.
SunTzu, who hadn't slept much as he had flown sortie after sortie to support the ground troops, was on another bomb run with AICA. Those strikes were used to soften up the defenses of the dug in enemy groups along with heavy artillery fire.
Orbital strikes had been ruled out to not accidentally destroy the rich nature of the planet not more than already done as well as to not trigger any seismic or volcanic activity.
AICA was playing Caribbean music, apparently and way, way better in SunTzu's opinion, the sound of the steel pan had at least temporarily overruled her love for Mongolian Throat Singing.
He was humming along as he shot over a platoon of the TF's tanks and headed towards the enemy positions, sporadic blaster and laser fire raked the morning sky around him as AICA homed her target laser in on a wheeled tank which had been positioned in a pre-dugged and fortified position.
Before his eyes could even make out the tank in its position he already had launched the bombs and was on his way back to friendly lines.
The explosions of the bombs and the concomitant destruction of the fortification and the tank marked the start for a heavy barrage.
First rocket and plasma artillery would shoot at sites where AICA had been targeted from as well as the inside of the enemy positions and then a heavy bombardment carried out by Dione and Triton Squadrons as well as the Y-Wings from the GA's frigate would follow to break the enemy positions up before Sol Brigade would start their assault.
Instead of being ordered back to the Eternal to rearm SunTzu was ordered to the island where Tua'ba was located on.
Near one of the beaches a platoon of scouts together with a tactical team of Royal Intelligence apparently had raided a homestead near a small village and detained some rebels.
As he landed AICA SunTzu could see that a single AT-AT swimmer was positioned at the beach, a few dozen meters away from the two buildings of the farmstead and SunTzu exactly knew who was onboard of the heavy repulsor vehicle.
Okay, Rudy was right, this really is just like Glee Anselm again.
An Intelligence Officer in tactical gear was greeting SunTzu as he left AICA's cockpit as at the farmstead a few scouts guarded some Nyrosians with the hands behind their backs and on their knees. Intelligence Members and Scouts were apparently searching the buildings.
As he followed the Intelligence Officers to the Mercury's Revenge, distinguished by the attached antennas, he noticed that Owen was standing close to it, smiling at him.
When both stood in front of each other they greeted with a fist bump.
"Whatcha doing here?"
"EOD for this raid. Gotta move out, heard SN left a goodie for us in the main building, nothing big but probably enough to loose a limb or two."
"Damn, don't get blown up."
"Oh, I'll try to. But that would mean that I at least would get to see my girl. Not that she would be happy about it tho." Owen said with a smile that took away every gram of severity from what he was about to do. He smiled and began to walk towards the farm but then stopped and turned around, still smiling widely. "It's all a matter of perspective."
SunTzu watched Owen go with an amused shake of his head, whistling and for a moment he asked himself when had been the last time that he had seen Setsuna, Nyros sure kept all of them busy.
"Captain?" The Officer asked SunTzu and the pilot turned his attention back to why he was here.
"Coming."
Inside the Revenge, now retrofitted as mobile command and communication post including some intelligence gathering devices, SunTzu found Ami on a small table with a holo of the planet in front of her. She was wearing field uniform and combat gear.
"SunTzu." She greeted him with the amount of austerity and authority she always greeted her friends when she was on an important mission, apparently everyone's favorite blunette was onto something important.
And SunTzu's hunch proved to be right, Intelligence finally could narrow down the area in which the enemy high command was located in.
The strike against the Daimons had lead to some angrily spoken orders towards different cells which had been intercepted. Ami suspected that the captured cell here might could lead to some more info but in the meantime the Commandos stationed at Tua'Ba were back at patrolling into the jungles in the region, as the enemy seemed to have his command post there.
As SunTzu left he immediately requested a change of deployment again and just a couple of hours later AICA was patrolling space along the Voyager again but this time without a pilot.
SunTzu was back as boots on the ground and getting ready to move out with one of the Commando Teams in this area in the middle of the night.
He was at the makeshift camp for the two Teams, cleaning his weapon when he received a message over his communicator, someone wanted to meet him nearby. Outside the usual afternoon rain fall just had begun.
Wearing a jacket above his combat clothes and a boonie to keep the rain from soaking him, he took a Humvee from the motor pool and drove through another part of the city.
After a few minutes he arrived at the outskirts of the city.
Some soldiers and two Royal Guards with MP-ribbons guarded the area and a few meters apart he could make out two figures standing over something that apparently was a large hole in the ground.
SunTzu swallowed hard, he knew what that was.
Silently he greeted the soldiers at guard and walked to the edge of the hole where he stopped next to the two persons.
Setsuna, graceful as ever in her uniform held an umbrella over herself staring at the scene in front of her, while next to her Doctor Nogosi, the Taskforce's pathologist made notes on a datapad.
Almost abjectly SunTzu looked into the hole, rows of dead Nyrosians, at least twenty of them, had hastily been buried in it. All of them had obviously been killed and apparently not in human ways.
SunTzu had seen a lot, done a lot himself, but somehow this war still found new ways to show him the abysses of the behavior of intelligent life. A wave of nausea rose in him.
"And here i thought that unnecessary violence was something that was just strictly limited to humans and wasn't a problem for the whole Galaxy."
SunTzu turned to the woman he loved, her face sat in stone. Besides them Doctor Nogosi began to slowly walk around the mass grave, filming it while the rain fell on him in his parka.
"You shouldn't be here, that's a case for a coroner and not a doctor."
"Doctor Nogosi and me decided that from the medical department only the two of us would document the mass graves. Only roughly so Rei can report it to the Galactic Alliance. Part of the security force is a pathological unit, specialized in dealing with genocide. They'll document it further and try to identify the victims."
She looked at the pathologist."Excuse me a moment, doctor."
The older man nodded and went back to his gruesome work.
Setsuna and SunTzu walked a few meters away from the grave.
"I didn't want to let Minako, Maria and the others see this. They have already seen enough of what this war does to people."
SunTzu listened to her in silence, he understood.
"But I'm sure that this won't be the only genocide we'll see firsthand before this war is over. The nature of intelligent lifeforms…"
Setsuna's voice sounded tired and SunTzu was at the brink to take her in his arms, but this neither wasn't the place nor the time for it.
"SunTzu, find those individuals behind this… this senseless murder and end their reign of terror. So that these people can get at least a proper burial and their kin gets to know what happened to them."
While the abating rain fell on them, Setsuna holding up the umbrella and covering them both with it, SunTzu nodded to the woman he loved above all.
A few hours later SunTzu was stalking through the jungle a few dozen kilometers away from Tua'ba, along Commando Team 5. While the first time working together again with Gistess's former team a few days earlier he had been worried that team members would be angry or mad at him but he had been disabused.
The Team accepted him as one of their own, just like the other teams, maybe he even was a part more of the team than with some of the other teams because of their history together.
A few days ago SunTzu and the Commandos had also searched for the enemy in the jungle but things had slightly changed.
Searching for random enemies on good luck had changed to searching the enemy commanders and their headquarters in a certain area. Lighter gear had also changed for a more Direct-Action-oriented loadout as well as more heavy weapons.
Team 1 and a platoon of scouts were also out in the night trying to find the enemy camp. The teams had to search an area of around twenty kilometers in diameter and Team 5 was on the most-eastern part of the area.
Team 5 had split up in smaller elements with four of the Commandos scouting in advance.
SunTzu and Tateel along with Cutter followed in some distance behind. SunTzu was wearing the armor of a SpecForce-Soldier including the helmet with the plethora of sensors built in. Although it still was raining and there was basically no light in the midst of the jungle the team made good way as the optical sensors, among them infrared and night vision, helped them move through the night. The sight enhancement devices inside the closed helmet was better than the usual devices SunTzu used although he had to admit it was way heavier than his usual helmet.
Still moving through the jungle in pitch dark wasn't exactly a walk in the park, as one had to constantly look out where he walked. SunTzu was thankful that the Commandos looked out for threats, be it traps or nature itself and he just could follow them.
Three hours after insertion through a gunship, SunTzu was kneeling on one knee and taking a sip of water from his hydration system while in front of him Tateel also had kneeled down and watched the surroundings. They were waiting for a word from the scout troop ahead.
Apparently the four Commandos had made out faint light up ahead.
And then, just as SunTzu had swallowed the water he was drinking down, it begun.
SunTzu didn't see it but the first shot was actually fired from one of the Commandos, it was shot right into the chest of one of the guards of the enemy camp as he was about to raise his rifle.
The second shot wasn't even fired when SunTzu and Tateel were already up and running to the front to help the advanced element, just as the rest of the Team 5 was.
Tateel dropped down next to one of the four Commandos who had moved in the front, Stick, as blaster fire in heavy intensity was exchanged.
"Hey Sarge, I think we found the enemy." Stick dryly commented to his team leader as he took cover to reload his blaster.
Meanwhile SunTzu next to Tateel fired off his blaster into the onslaught of enemy's coming out of the camp to cover Stick's reload.
As Stick was done reloading and opened fire again, left and right of the three soldiers the other Commando's were doing the same, SunTzu dropped down and activated his radio, at first he let the Eternal know that they were in heavy contact.
The Commandos and SunTzu felled a lot of enemies but they just kept coming, it was pretty obvious that this camp was larger and more guarded than usual but still they couldn't verify if it was the enemy headquarters.
Tateel gave the order to fall back in a fighting manner, knowing that SunTzu had called in air support, including informing Command that there was a feasible realistic possibility that the unit would be overrun and that now very probably a whole squadron of bombers was on it's way for a carpet bombing.
SunTzu hadn't called Broken Saber yet but they either had to get a lot of distance in from the camp or SunTzu had to guide the bombers closer to the camp. Within a second he understood that there was no way the Team would make it out of a danger close distance to the bombing as the pursuing enemy kept them from breaking off with the amount of fire that came in.
SunTzu knew he had to do something.
"Cover me! He yelled out and bursted out of his cover from behind a fallen tree, blaster now back in the holster and replaced by his lightsaber.
The Commandos intensified their fire as SunTzu activated the purple blade and rushed forward.
It was madness, while the Commandos aimed at the closest danger to themselves or SunTzu, SunTzu stormed further forward towards the enemy base.
The most effective reason he wasn't hit was his velocity, but he also managed to ward off a few blaster bolts aimed at him with his lightsaber.
As he was almost back at the position he had been moments before, being able to take a look at the enemy camp he pulled out a device out of one of his pouches, pressed a button on it and threw it as far as he could. The German had just thrown the now activated IR-Light beacon when a blaster bolt found the way into his shoulder.
SunTzu yelled out in pain but kept standing somehow although the impact not only had hurted like hell but also felt like a speederbike had hit him.
Team 5 was now using sustained fire to cover SunTzu and the pilot spun around and ran back to friendly lines as fast as he could.
Again blaster fire was hitting the ground and vegetation directly next to him but he kept running. Having his lightsaber deactivated as he had turned around and hastily storing it on his belt again he now was holding his wounded shoulder with the other hand, trying somehow to fade out the pain. Given the pain and the loss of movement he supposed that his nerves had been severely hit.
After what felt like a double eternity but only had been seconds and with a high jump, he dropped down behind his old cover again, multicolored blaster fire hitting the tree trunk, leaving red hot blaster holes, sparking fumes and making the air smell like burnt wood and ozone.
"Cap?! You okay?!" Tateel yelled over the blaster fire.
SunTzu took a deep breather, his work wasn't over yet and if he and the other Commandos didn't want to end together in one big plastic bag he better got to work. With his still working hand he activated his radio, clenching his teeth about the absolutely insanity-inducing pain in his shoulder.
"All units be advised, approach from the southwest, IR-Beacon marks the beginning of the enemy camp, friendly units south of this point, danger close."
As the incoming air support and Command proceeded the information, SunTzu allowed himself a small growl to let out some of the pain and looked around.
A few meters away, Cutter was applying first aid to a commando's wounded arm, the commando was shooting one handed and mostly blind to keep the enemy at bay. The Commandos now knowing what SunTzu had been doing got back to holding their position, knowing that hell was about to rain down on the enemy camp. Whatever was left of the enemy then would be shattered at this defensive line.
"SunTzu, this is Dionne Leader, ETA 90 seconds."
SunTzu closed his eyes for a second against the pain and got back to work.
The enemy base had been obliterated by a bombardment from the TIE-Scimitars of Dionne Squadron and most of the attacking rebels had either been mowed down by Team 5 or, arriving just after a few minutes after SunTzu had made the call, a duo of gunships.
After it became clear that the battle was over and that the rebels had lost against the sheer fire power of the GA's forces the survivors surrendered.
On the side of the camp fleeing rebels were captured or, if they resisted, neutralized by Team 1 or the scouts now moving up to the base.
Within one hour of finding the enemy base, SunTzu, his shoulder wound deemed as something which needed brisk treatment from Cutter, found himself back in the FOB at Tua'ba.
To his surprise both his current and his ex-girlfriend were already waiting at the landing pad, Yuichiro a step behind them, he saw as the doors of the gunship opened after landing.
Setsuna had her field uniform on, her compact medical scanner in hand, while Rei and Yuichiro were in tactical civilian clothing, with Yuichiro wearing his sword and a pistol on his belt, plus having swung a medical backpack over his shoulder.
While the monk looked sympathetically at SunTzu, now lying on a stretcher to not put any pressure because a belt on his shoulder, Rei shook her head and Setsuna deadpanned.
After a moment the crew chief of the dropship and a medic who had accompanied the flight begun to unload SunTzu. While they did so, the trio moved up to the aerial vehicle.
Setsuna didn't say a word but silently went over SunTzu's shoulder while two more soldiers waited at the dropship to carry the stretcher. Of course she already had informed herself about SunTzu's injuries but she wanted to see how bad it really was.
"I see someone tried to be cool in front of the new kids and got shot." Rei bluntly commented SunTzu's state and although Setsuna react to it, Yuichiro kind of looked like he wanted to apologize for her after hearing the snarky comment.
SunTzu's voice was heavy from the painkillers as he replied. "Yeah, but you know what, Moeru Shojo? We blew up their damn headquarters." SunTzu had heard the confirmation while Cutter had made him ready for transport, the first Commandos had started assessing the remains of the enemy base at that point.
"It just came in, apparently you eliminated the whole leadership of the Secession National with that strike." There was gratefulness and easement in Rei's voice as she looked at Setsuna examining SunTzu, trying to read her expression.
"And almost got killed." Rei noticed that Setsuna's voice was severe but not angry, the voice the oldest of the Senshi reserved for motherly scolding.
"How bad is it?" Yuichiro asked, trying not to think about how close it apparently had been.
"Nothing a few days in Bacta can't fix." Setsuna replied and then stowed her scanner back on her medical backpack that Yuichiro was carrying before she kneeled down next to SunTzu.
"At least that seems to be the new record of not taking a bath in Bacta." Her voice had gotten much softer and after ending the sentence she kissed SunTzu's forehead.
"Thanks." She said to him, drawing a tired nod from him, and then turned to the two soldiers. "Bring him to landing pad Charlie, another ship will bring him to the Eternal."
Wordlessly the soldiers carried him away.
"I'll make sure he'll be back to a hundred within days." Setsuna said, as she watched SunTzu being carried over to the other landing spot.
"And I'll make sure, that Coruscant sends help to this planet. As soon as I have the confirmation of the death of their leadership."