They got into the upper dining hall and loudly annexed two tables. A few persons including Soldiers were also there and observed the spectacle.
Suddenly all of the other Sailors and Soldiers rose up and saluted.
"Admiral present!"
Nice guys, at least they try to warn you.
Artemis entered the room, with an Ensign in tow, carrying two cases.
The pilots froze and abruptly went silent too.
"At ease! Pilots, your Captain has a small present for your good work out there. Ensign!" Artemis told with a smile and motioned to the young Officer to forward.
The Ensign put the two cases on the nearest table of the pilots and nodded.
Marvin who had one leg on the bank opened one of the cases and pulled out a bottle of beer. The Pilots started cheering loudly and Marvin nodded smiling towards Artemis.
Artemis showed a satisfied smile and greeted with his hat. Then he left, the tired looking Ensign falling in behind him.
The pilots, except for Michiru, who went over to the food counter and started talking to one of the staff members, all took out a beer, a few moments later Michiru joined them with two bottles of Wine and a few cups.
Marvin brought out a toast to the best Starfighter Pilots that earth ever fielded and they drank. In the course of the Night a lot of toasts were given and Odegana and SunTzu, as first time Aces, had to do a special display for the rest of the pilots while standing on top of the tables.
They partied till the early morning and when they finally left, Michiru and SunTzu basically had to carry Haruka to bed.
They had to laugh the whole way and stumbled into a similar drunk Makoto also on the way to bed. The whole Special Forces detachment was still partying evenly hard, celebrating the successful mission without loosing anyone and as Commanding Officer Mako had to do her fair share of toasts for her troops.
The view of the almost passed out Haruka made her laugh uncontrollably. They carried Haruka to bed and Michiru motioned them to be quiet and waved them goodbye.
The other two also went to their rooms and to bed.
Around noon he awoke because someone was aggressively banging on his door.
He opened the door with a mild hangover and without a shirt.
A stoic looking Pluto was standing there, handing him a paper cup of coffee.
"Training in ten. And take a shower before." She said and walked away.
Really? After yesterday nights battle? What was wrong with that woman?
He took a sip of the coffee. Black. No sugar.
At least she had the decency to bring him coffee. He took a shower, downed a liter of water and got into training clothes.
He left his room and went to the training area, drinking his coffee in the meantime. She was already there, warming up.
First they trained some more fighting together and after a hour or so, she supposed a training fight.
He was panting so much, that he couldn't say no in time.
They got ready and this time he was armed with a training staff to counter her Garnet Rod.
He lasted longer than last time but she packed quite a punch with her weapon.
After a series of attacks from her, that slowly moved him back a especially strong hit from above broke the staff, she used his surprise to this to her advantage and with a swift move swung around and pulled his legs from under him, making him fall down.
Then she playfully swung the Rod back into the vertical and stepped back, looking at him for a moment.
Wait, did her mouth just twitch?
She nodded and walked off, ending today's lesson.
He decided to stay laying down there for a bit, hoping that someone came and told him that he was transferred for disciplinary reasons to a single person post at the Arctic shelf.
Instead Makoto entered the room, searching for him.
"Yo SunTzu, Marvin is looking for you. He's at the Hangar!" She told him.
He answered by raising a thumbs up in the air.
"Hey, whatcha doing down there?"
He got up with less pain than he thought and went to the Hangar, he found Marvin working on some Software Updates of his A-Wing.
"Wow, you look miserable. Bad hangover? Maybe some sport would help."
SunTzu just waved it down, shaking his head.
"Heard you were looking for me." He asked the senior Pilot.
"Yeah, didn't found you in your room. As you know, where heading back home. I have the pleasure to tell you, that there will be a festive reception for our new Aces in the Palace in two days. Oh and there's a nice bonus for becoming a Ace. Congratulations again." He smiled. "Get some rest and make sure to be presentable till then. Word on the grapevine is, that our new Uniforms are done when we come home."
SunTzu nodded, said thanks and with a small break to greet his starfighter and Karlena went back to his room, taking another shower and changing into uniform.
His stomach was growling so it was the dining hall next.
Early afternoon next day the Far Side landed on Earth again. Unfortunately not before Setsuna was in front of his door again and ordered him to training. He just came back from a session at the ship's gym and when he came back the second time his whole body felt sore.
When he left the ship flying in AICA he could barely move his arms.
If things went on like that, this woman would probably be his demise.
He parked AICA in her Hangar, said goodbye and, after managing some organizational stuff, met with Ami who drove him home.
The blue haired Senshi was more than glad to be home again. She really missed Ryu this time. She also told him, that tomorrow the new uniforms would be given out in the morning and that she would take him along if he wanted.
They arranged to meet up at ten in the morning and the said their goodbyes.
He was happy to be home again and after leaving for a bit of grocery shopping he was ready for a whole evening of doing sweet nothing. And this time nobody would disturb him.
God, he needed that timeout.
He finally had time to check his emails and he found, that he had a message from Master Cilghal asking how he was was the first thing he answered.
He fell asleep on it's sofa watching anime and woke up when his phone was ringing.
It was Minako and it was pretty loud in the back. Also her voice was kind of slurred.
"Hey, whatcha doing? Me and Rei had a few cocktails in Shibuya. What?! Yes, I really called him." A pause followed. "Where was I? Ah yes. Whatcha doing? Where are you?"
He yawned and answered. "I'm home and I was asleep already."
"Huh, he said he was already sleeping. Here talk to him on your own. I'm sure he'll be happy to talk to you. Here!" A small inaudible discussion occurred.
"Sorry. She's… not available at the moment. Anyways, i thought that you might were going out today too and that we could meet up. What? One moment. Why?! But…but... Well if you say so. Okay, we're going home now too!"
She waited a second and the flustered into the phone. "Be sure to look extra good tomorrow, okay. We're having an appointment at the beauty parlour tomorrow afternoon, just for your ball. This is a secret tho. I gotta go. See you tomorrow." That said she hung up.
What was that all about? And could it be that Minako finally found out which person he meant last time?
This time sleep didn't come so easy.
His alarm woke him up at eight in the morning and he had enough time to get ready and even have breakfast at home.
Rei was still buzzing around in his head when he left for outside and got into Ami's car.
Twenty minutes later they were at the palace and went to the clothing department of the HQ. It seemed that the whole Force was out to get the new Task Force exclusive olive colored Dress Uniforms.
They waited in line for 45 minutes till they got their tailor made uniforms and five minutes later they were proof wearing them. They fitted perfectly.
When they saw each other in front of the fitting rooms they jokingly commented the nice uniforms of the other.
After redressing again they left the base again. Ami told him that the Senshi, all of them, were about to go shopping and had a subsequent appointment at the beauty parlor. All this was the spontaneous idea of Minako. They were excited and looked forward to the girl time.
She dropped him off and he decided to get some beauty treatment too. He went to the barber and got a fresh haircut and even got his beard trimmed down, sporting a well groomed three-day-stubble now. He also bought a expensive, awesome smelling perfume on the way home.
He got home and got himself ready, when Rei wrote him.
She was sorry that Minako woke him up yesterday night and that they were getting ready now. Followed by a message saying that it's nice the Palace was having a party celebrating that his stupid ideas didn't kill him yet.
Second part Classic Rei Hino. First part? Not so much, did she really just apologize?
He was ready, looking good, smelling great when he got a message from an unknown number.
It actually was the King stating they should meet ASAP and he needed help.
A car was on it's way.
A black limousine arrived a few minutes later and took him to the palace. The King was waiting in front of the palace entrance and from what SunTzu could see the preparations for the party later on were in full effect.
SunTzu stormed up the stairs and bowed down before the King who immediately motioned him to follow.
"Lieutenant, we have a problem. I know the reception will be in a few hours already but I need you and your ship. A GA Ship will wait half way to the nearest CTE Beacon, you'll get a very important data pad there. Bring it back here as fast as possible. I'm sorry but you're the only one available who could make it in time." The King ordered him.
"Understood. Don't worry, I'll try to be back in time." SunTzu replied.
"You better, that party is for you also." The King laughed. "You excuse me. I'll see you later." Then he left.
SunTzu called in AICA and ordered her to the Palace Landing Spot.
Three minutes later he was sitting inside the cockpit, getting a compliment for his new uniform.
They lifted off and rocketed spacewards, not even five minutes later they were in Hyperspace.
It was around eight pm when the ball started and people were flocking in, mostly from Crystal Tokyo this time.
Haruka, Setsuna and Michiru were standing a bit afar, observing the party and having a glass of champagne. The two pilots were wearing their new uniform while Setsuna was wearing a stunning evening dress the color of hair. Hotaru excused herself, she wasn't much into these things.
Some of the more important guests were greeted by the Royal Family and or Artemis and Luna themselves.
Marvin and the other pilots were already sitting at a round table, toasting to their assistant squad leader. Venus and Jupiter were at the side of the Queen, greeting people.
"Where is he? I didn't thought he'd come late to his own party." Haruka asked where SunTzu was.
"Maybe he fell asleep. I can imagine his sleep deficit is quite high. Especially when the girls woke him up this night again." Michiru replied.
"Should he have the impertinence to oversleep his own ball after we all got so dressed up, he'll get a double lesson from me tomorrow." A sour looking Setsuna declared. "Excuse me, I'm gonna call up Hotaru really quick."
"And I'm gonna head out to the entrance and see if I can find this crazy German." Haruka announced.
"Of course, I'm perfectly fine here at home. Don't worry Setsuna. Have a nice time. Love you too. Bye Mom."
Sailor Saturn put her phone away again and concentrated on the three suited guys opening the gate of the storehouse she were sitting atop on, wearing a black bodysuit with her Glaive on her back.
In that moment a black colored A-Wing fell out of hyperspace near earth, rushing towards the blue and green planet.
He was late, but that damn Capital ship made him wait for a small eternity until he could land and retrieve the Datapad.
Well no point in understatement anymore, next stop front entrance. And to make it look more natural he should go for the whole grande entrance show.
He entered the atmosphere near the training area and hold AICA off a few meters above the water line. Flying so fast that he actually left a trail in the water behind them he punched AICA towards Crystal Tokyo.
A few minutes later he descended and reached Crystal Tokyo.
Showtime!
"Loudspeakers on maximum, play something that the people we are coming."
"Are we having a little flight of fancy tonight?" She asked.
"Just trying to cover up coming to late." He told her.
He flew between the skyscrapers In the south of the Island and shot passed the Airbase. Air Control was already calling going crazy with his flying. He turned it off and hoped King Endymion would offer some help for this later.
He overflew the palace, with all his lights turned off and people could just see a pair of afterburners in the sky and hear his approach. AICA started playing Party Up from DMX while SunTzu turned on the lights again and gave the people a show with a few Loopings and a barrel roll around the Crystal Tower. Another low pass over the palace and a narrow loop over the main palace building and he landed right in front of the stairs up to the main building and opened the canopy. Standing in the cockpit he put on his Uniform Hat and jumped out afterwards. Gently slapping the side of the cockpit he whispered to AICA to lift off again and land at the Palace's Landing Spot.
Apart from some fast thinking photographers people were still staring at him motionless. He smoothed out his Uniform jacket as he jogged up the stairs.
He was greeted by a head shaking Haruka.
"Mate, what the bloody Hell? Little flight of fancy tonight?"
SunTzu took a look around and leaned in to her.
"Special Mission for the King, could you make sure MP is not arresting me before I get to him?"
She looked at him and nodded.
"Don't worry, I got ya bum."
He rushed inside the building and just passed the entrance to the hall where two big flight of stairs into the second floor encircled the room.
"TopGun! Or shhould i call you Maverick from now on. You really made yourself a name on your own with this entrance." Rei said and showed an amused smile, coming down the stairs with Ami.
The blackhaired woman was wearing a breathtaking tight pencil cut dress in red, highlighting her features. Ami was wearing her new uniform and nodded to him.
"Moeru Shōjo, Ami." He nodded as greeting and turned to Rei. "Actually more like Topper Harley, but don't tell people." He winked. "Please excuse me, the King is waiting for me." He rushed further. "You look great." He yelled as he walked through the door.
He casually grabbed a glass of champagne from a waiters tray and downed it in one sip, putting it on the next tray.
He noticed the king and walked straight up to him. In front of the Royal Family he bowed down.
"Lieutenant SunTzu, respectfully reporting back my King."
"Lieutenant, you have the datapad?" Endymion asked and put his hand on SunTzu's Shoulder as they both turned around.
SunTzu pulled the pad out of his inner uniform pocket and handed it over to him.
"Sorry, took longer than expected, had to park at the entrance."
"Better late than never. I already heard that you're in trouble because your entrance. Don't worry, I'll take care of it." The King announced. "Enjoy the party." They turned around and saw an angry looking Artemis marching over and heading straight towards SunTzu.
"Lieutenant, what the hell…" King Endymion held up his hand and waved Artemis over. Putting his hand on his shoulder they turned around and the King explained the situation to him.
SunTzu stepped back and gave the Neo Queen and her daughter each a hand kiss and excused himself. He greeted Jupiter and Venus with a nod and went to the nearest waiter to get another glass of champagne.
"Hey, you finally made it." He turned around to see Michiru walking up, Setsuna in tow.
"Good evening Michiru. Good Evening Setsuna."
Damn, Setsuna in that dress was stunning too.
Michiru greeted him with kisses to each cheek, while Setsuna just nodded. He was tempted to go for a hand kiss but the risk of severely getting injured in the process seemed to high.
"Did you see Haruka? She wanted to wait for you at the entrance."
"Yeah, she tried to buy me some time running from MP."
Both women looked questioningly to him.
He motioned to calm down.
"Long Story but the King already took care of it." He appeased them.
At that moment Haruka showed up.
"You're still a free man I see."
"Mission accomplished, the king was so nice to intervene." SunTzu let her know.
They went to a table that was reserved for them and sat down.
"Where's Hotaru?" SunTzu asked
"At home, these receptions are not her thing. Same goes for Chibiusa." Setsuna explained.
SunTzu took another look at the Princess and yes, you could tell she was rather annoyed in between shaking hands and wearing a fake smile.
"If that isn't our other fresh Ace!" Marvin yelled from the other table. "A toast!"
The people of both tables stood up and toasted to each other.
People got to their tables and the official part began with an eulogy from Artemis and was followed by one from the King.
The Inner Senshi were sitting across the room to them, the Royal table, who also housed Artemis and Luna was located in the middle. Team 1 was at the table next to the Inner Senshi with Team 3 neighboring. He couldn't make out Team 2 at all.
Too bad the tables were so far away. He caught himself staring at Rei in the distance a few times that evening and hoped nobody would notice. Dinner was served and like the last time, it was exquisite again.
After the main dish Setsuna excused herself and left the table.
Dinner was just served when his phone vibrated.
It was a message from Hotaru and stated to not call her or tell anyone. She was in trouble and in the need of backup down at a storehouse in the docks. She was observing a group of Arms Dealers since a few weeks yet and finally found their hideout. The problem now was, that she was trapped inside and couldn't get out unseen and they were heavily armed. She asked for his discretion again. The last sentence told that he was the only one that could help now, without her getting in trouble.
One time, one single time he wanted to not get into trouble because of these girls. He downed his champagne glass in a sip and wrote her back to send her location. He put his napkin on the table and excused himself that he had to leave. Unforeseen problems with something he was doing in his free time.
He strode out of the room and called AICA to get ready for take off.
On the way out he bumped into Rei who just came back from smoking.
"Leaving already? That's cold, first you come late to your own party and now you leave already? You don't like us anymore?" She told him with played outrage. "I thought we celebrate tonight?"
"Urgent emergency. I'm sorry. But don't worry, we catch up on this."
"If you say so Topper. Don't do anything stupid."
"Hey, you know me. See you around Wah-Wah Tukina." He told with a playful smile and left.
"Wah-Wah-what?" She yelled after him.
"Wah-Wah Tukina. Google it!" He answered over his shoulder.
Half a minute later Ami was walking up to Rei to find her laughing loudly over her phone screen. Wait, was she blushing too?
SunTzu jumped into AICA and shot into the Night Sky, while AICA pinpointed Saturn's position.
Three Minutes later, he circled over a warehouse in the Tokyo Docks, trying to come up with a plan.
He descended and landed in front of the warehouse. Two men wearing suits, guarding the entrance, draw pistols and ran over to him. As the first shot hit the canopy he had his plan. As always, when I doubt apply Violence.
Two shots from AICA's Lasers let most of the men disappear in a cloud of smoke.
The gate opened and a whole bunch of thugs, armed with all kinds of weapons from smgs over to Shotguns and Assault rifles ran out, opening fire on the fighter.
Well, they asked for it.
"AICA write Hotaru to stay as close to the ground as possible."
"Done. And… Message read."
Good girl.
He opened fire and within seconds the whole bunch of people was a whole bunch of fervent corpses. The gunfire stopped.
He grabbed his 416C and jumped out the cockpit. Carefully he walked up to the building, aiming his rifle. Out here nobody survived.
He slowly entered the building and scanned for targets. Nobody was to be seen.
"Hotaru?!" He yelled. Hopefully the kid was okay.
"He slowly strode though the room when suddenly a hand with a gun rose from behind a table.
That immediately fell to the ground again, amputated at the elbow. Another slash from the Silence Glaive ended the man's existence completely.
"Thanks." SunTzu said.
"Thanks on my side." Sailor Saturn said.
"Let's get the hell out here."
She fell in behind him and him covering their retreat they got out of the warehouse.
In the distance police sirens were already audible.
AICA opened the canopy, transformed to two seat configuration. They jumped in and hurried away, fast and low.
"What the hell Kiddo?" He asked her.
"They were Arms dealers and i had them on my hitlist for a long time already. I was looking for more info inside when they showed up in force and I had to hide in a closet. Wouldn't have made it out alive without you I guess. Thank you again." She told him.
"No problem. Just promise me to never to such stupid things again. Especially alone."
"Lesson learned, really." She explained.
"Good. Fancy some dessert?"
Ten minutes later AICA was parking on the parking lot of a Convenience Store and the two Warriors were sitting on the snub's wings, eating Mochi and acting like a man in uniform and a Teenage Girl, wearing all black and sporting a glaive on her back sitting on a starfighter and eating candy would be the most normal sight in the universe.
Hotaru's phone vibrated and she pulled it out of her body suit.
"Fuck! Mom is going home, we need to go!" She yelled and stuffed her mochi down.
"Language!" SunTzu replied as he stuffed his mochi down too and stood up to get into the cockpit.
Three minutes later he landed in front of the Meiou's House and Saturn stormed inside while SunTzu immediatly lift off again and left for Crystal Tokio.
—