SunTzu got to Flight Center and arranged some stuff for Hotaru's Training.
Hotaru of course was over punctual and arrived in a flight suit that was quite too big for her.
She didn't mind it all it seemed though.
Today's flight was another navigational training flight, this time near the Northern Mariana Islands, because of the proximity to Guam and it's nearby US Airbase flight routes there were a bit more strict.
The exercise lasted a few hours and they even had the chance to fly in formation with an US-Stealth-Bomber that was approaching Guam and asked for the gesture between Allies.
Hotaru loved every minute in the air, also she was eager to learn anything she could and constantly wrote stuff in a datapad she was carrying with her.
SunTzu told her for three fundamentals that needed to strictly be uphold by her if she wanted to train under him.
First and foremost safety. Everything should always be done with the necessary caution and preparations.
Second, consistency. You decided for training, you stick with it. No stopping, no unnecessary distractions.
And third, but important. Heart.
Fighting in a snub was hard, there's thousands of ways to die in space or sky. But with dedication and a purpose one would stay the course and live to see another day.
He told her to internalize this three fundamentals.
As they landed Haruka and Michiru were getting ready for their flight.
They both heard the news already and congratulated Hotaru and welcomed her on board. Haruka seemed a bit melancholic though.
"I knew the day would come where you would start to cut your own way. But I'm a bit thrown off guard, it came so fast." She said and a sorry looking Michiru put her arms over her.
"Awww Haruka-Papa, don't be sad. Don't forget that we will spent more time with each other now again." Hotaru said with a warm smile, trying to cheer her up.
Like already stated, they get big so fast.
Hotaru and SunTzu went for an early dinner and talked about a rough schedule for things, when Ami called him up. She wanted to see him ASAP, regarding an R&D-Mission.
Why was it so goddamn hard to either have a night of good sleep or food in peace on this planet?
He excused himself with Hotaru and and prepared to leave.
"But where are you going?" The dark haired girl asked her new superior.
"Special Stuff for Ami, you know. Some Real Goon Shit." He winked and walked out of the room. He hoped Hotaru wouldn't be too heartbroken if her instructor would vanish this night.
A few minutes later he was in Ami's Office, while outside the sun slowly set down.
"I got another money transport. And this time I even have their exact course. They're heading for Palanhi. But there is a catch in it." Ami started, showing him a map of the nearby systems where a red dot was moving on the Shwuy Exchange towards Palanhi.
"Let me guess, this time it's guarded by a rogue legion of Stormtroopers inside a Star Destroyer." SunTzu sighed, why did he even show up.
"No. It's a small freighter but the individuals on board are bounty hunters. Around five of them."
"Are you kidding me? How do you think we can take out five bounty hunters. Let me guess they're also with the guild and even if we don't die there every bounty hunter in the galaxy will chase us afterwards."
"That is a Pro for us, they're not with the guild."
"At least something. But for real, we cannot do this on our own, we need help. Someone who can fight."
"And someone we can trust."
"Makoto!" Both yelled out at the same time.
Ami called her up and she was still on base.
She told her to come over ASAP.
"What do you mean we're stealing money for the war? What did you guys take?" Makoto asked them both frowning.
"No, Ami is serious. The kingdom needs money for the war effort and we make sure there is some extra cash coming in." SunTzu replied.
"There's a few hundred thousand Galactic Credits ready to be taken from the enemy." Ami explained.
"Only a bunch of bounty hunters stands between it and us." SunTzu chimed in. Let's play with open cards.
"And you need help to get rid of them?" Makoto asked.
"5 vs 2 doesn't cut it. But with you, things would look different. And our chance to survive would be higher." SunTzu explained the situation with a severe look.
"You'll take this dance with me Mako-Chan?" Ami asked and SunTzu looked at her inquiringly.
What the hell did she mean with that?
"Looks like tall girl has to save the night then. I'm in, but just because it's you two. That whole thing is insane."
"I said the same!" SunTzu commented nodding approvingly.
They agreed on a general plan to attack the ship on planet side this night, maybe they could surprise them.
"It's around five hours to Palanhi. We have a problem so, I can't pack both of you into AICA, we just have room for two inside her for such a long time. Any ideas, what we can do?"
"I'm not gonna fly in an starfighter for five hours anyway!" Makoto replied, shaking her head vigorous.
"We'll take one of the shuttles we have. I'll give out the orders. Please tell me, you can fly them." Ami asked SunTzu with a pleading glance.
"Of course. I probably could fly the Far Side if I'd have too." SunTzu shrugged as it wouldn't be nothing.
"Good, that's great. Makoto you take care of weapons we need. We got room now. I'll get the organizational stuff done. See you at the building entrance in thirty minutes, okay?"
Mako pulled out a phone and called Rudy.
"Rudy, I need the DL50 and and a suppressed Sniper Rifle with subsonic ammo. No question asked, okay?"
Makoto and SunTzu left, and on the way to the vehicle pool, they saw Rei, having a cigarette outside of the palace.
"Hey, where you guys heading?" She asked them curiously.
"Mission for Ami, no time. Sorry!" They both told her.
"Hey TopGun, you have to stop doing secret stuff with married women. That's weird, you know." She mocked him, while they passed.
They just gave her a dark stare.
What the hell were those two up to now again?
They took a Humvee to the Military Base. Makoto dropped him at the Air Base and he went into one of the hangars, where a Lambda-Shuttle, one of two of the Kingdom.
He went straight to the cockpit and started the preflight checks.
Half an hour later they were picked up by SunTzu at the palace landing spot and they left earth.
Five hours and around thirty minutes later they landed on a spaceport on the capital of Palanhi, a few landing spots away from the bounty hunter's ship.
It was night and SunTzu and Makoto were wearing the dark Multicam Black Camo while Ami wore a civilian attire.
She was supposed to scan the area before the other two attacked.
The other two stayed on board of the Lambda as Ami headed out. She mingled with the people in the spaceport and didn't stand out. The landing spot of the Bounty Hunters was a bit aside and secured by a wall. She saw that a house nearby was overlooking the wall though. She was wearing a tiny earpiece for communication and a small camera, disguised a brooch, on her clothes.
The house was open so she stealthily entered it and went up to the roof.
She could oversee the landing spot with the Corellian freighter sitting on it. One guy in a painted Storm Trooper Armor but without helmet. He was obviously guarding the ship.
Way better for them than an automated blaster.
The other two watched on a screen in the cockpit what Ami filmed.
"What do you say? Sniper Kill from that building and then guns blazing into the ship?" SunTzu asked the Senshi turned Special Forces Captain.
"A possibility but let's be subtle and try something different. See that on the wall here." She pointed on the wall of the side of the landing port. "Bet these stairs are on the other side as well. We could take out the guard silently and then slip inside the ship and try to hit the rest silently as well."
SunTzu nodded impressed, that was a way better plan.
She radioed in to Ami, as SunTzu mounted a suppressor on a HK45CT Pistol.
"Ami, I have a plan."
They sneaked out the shuttle and moved stealthily through the shadows and darkness, till they arrived at the wall. There were stairs onto it also and they climbed them up. While SunTzu gave overwatch with his Block 2 Rifle Makoto silently climbed down and hid in the shadows.
A double click in her earpiece was Ami's signal. She slowly moved to the gate of the landing port. She took a quick glance to know where the guard was and then started to tumble. It made the impression that she was drunk and she moved inside the walls.
She headed over to the guard.
"Excuse me… I'm looking for my ship. I'm a bit… I drank too much. Maybe you can help me." She stumbled forward and fell into the man, who catched her.
"Oh, thank you. I slipped… hihi."
"Hey Girl, you should take care. Maybe you need to sleep, I'll can get you to my bunk." The coarse man said with a smile, revealing uneven teeth.
She straightened up and stepped back.
"Maybe you need to sleep." She whispered as Makoto came out of the dark and with a touch of her fingertips electrocuted the man, catching his body and slowly dragging It into the shadows.
So far so good, SunTzu climbed down too and closed up to them. The ramp of the ship was down.
SunTzu hung his rifle on his back and draw his pistol. He also reached for a flashbang.
Makoto put a hand on his hand at the holster with the grenade.
"I have another idea. Ami, Supreme Aqua Thunderbolt. SunTzu cover us for a moment."
Ami nodded and both slipped into the darkness, they vanished into a storage room for space ship maintenance. A few moments later they came out again, now transformed.
"Really?" SunTzu whispered as they came back.
"We have to transform for some stronger attacks." She shrugged.
Both Senshi cautiously and slowly moved up to near the ramp, staying out of sight from it.
"Sailor Mercury, Sailor Jupiter Double Attack Supreme Aqua Thunderbolt."
Ami casted her mist into the starship that was immediately electrified by Jupiter's Lightning.
Anything within a radius of a few meters was dead now. That was quite impressive. He cautiously went up the ramp of the YT-1760 Transport, pistol drawn, Jupiter put a hand on his shoulder to immediately drag him out if the need would arise.
Inside lay two dead bodies, one a devaronian slumped over a chair looking towards the ramp, with a long blaster rifle pointing toward the ramp.
The other one, a Rodian, was lying dead on a sofa in the middle of the lounge of the ship.
He stepped forward into the ship, ready to shoot.
Makoto tapped his shoulder and he looked back to her, where she motioned to her left side. Then she nodded towards the front where the cockpit was.
He veered left while she sneaked forward.
He went for the nearest door and secured the room, a storage room, it was empty.
Second door was a refresher and also empty. While he headed for door number three, Makoto reached the door to the cockpit and opened it.
A man was sleeping in the pilots chair. A electric shock from Makoto's hands made him never wake up again.
Meanwhile SunTzu scanned room number three and bingo, it was the quarters. A man was sleeping in a bunk bed there, he woke up when SunTzu walked up to him but was immediately sent back to sleep with two shots in his head.
The ship had been cleared. SunTzu went down the ramp again and waved Ami inside. While SunTzu stood watch at the ramp the two girls started looking for the money.
The Trio found a large, heavy backpack in a secret storage compartment near the cockpit. It was out of pure luck, that Makoto noticed the casing on the wall was off a bit when she walked up to the cockpit again.
They glanced inside, it was full to the brim with Credits. Makoto shouldered the bag and they left the ship. SunTzu noticed that the ship was getting filled with fuel right now and he pulled the hose out, the fuel still spilled out and soon formed a puddle under the ship.
He motioned for the girls to move on. The girls climbed up the wall again and waited there, making sure the coast was clear.
When SunTzu was satisfied with the amount of spilled fuel he followed the Senshi back up the wall. When he was there he told them to go on to the shuttle, when they were down the wall he pulled his rifle from his back and got ready to shoot. He aimed for the puddle of fuel and pulled the trigger. The bullet immediately ignited the fuel and the flames shot up the ships fuel tank. SunTzu was already on the move down the stairs when the ship exploded internally, lighting up the night sky on the space port.
Okay, now it was really time to go. He rushed back to the shuttle, where the girls already were waiting. He ran straight into the cockpit and jumped into the pilot seat, while he hang his rifle over the copilot seat.
He immediately made the start preparations, closed the ramp and lighted up the engines.
"Strap in Ladies, we're going home!" He yelled out of the cockpit. The two women secured the bag and strapped in.
SunTzu told the space port control that he had important GA Personnel on board and would take off immediately for safety reasons. Twenty seconds later he had permission to take off.
He shot off in the sky and as soon as they could, he jumped to light speed.
As soon as they were in hyperspace the girls started counting the money. They stole 420.000 Galactic Credits. He heard wild cheering from Makoto, who was throwing credit chips in the air, laughing.
This went way easier than expected.
When they made the next jump to the CTE the girls were sleeping in their seats.
He looked at the chrono, when they would land the sun would probably be already up.
He set an alarm, that would wake him up before they fell out of hyperspace again or if something would be wrong and closed his eyes too.
One hour of sleep wasn't much and he was really regretting having slept at all, he felt way more tired than before. Some force meditation and a energy bar helped at least temporarily.
It was around 07:30 when they landed in Crystal Tokyo. He let the girls out at the palace and flew over to the Shuttle's hangar. Ami would take care of depositing the money while Mako would bring the weapons back.
SunTzu overgave the Shuttle to the ground crew for inspection and left for the palace again. He went into the Military HQ but Ami was gone already and her room locked. Either she went home or to the Bank.
He was tired, but fortunately they had coffee in the HQ's lobby.
He took one to go, went outside and sat down at his favorite bench and lighted a cigarette.
God, he was tired. And training on the range was about to start soon.
"Long Night?" Setsuna asked him, walking up from behind.
"Way too long." He gave her a tired smile.
"So, you're the instructor of my daughter now. What's your impression?"
He took a draw from the cigarette and exhaled.
"She's happy for the chance. And seems eager to learn. I think she'll be a great pilot one day." This was his honest opinion, although he awaited some pushback from her.
"You know my opinion. But I understand her motivation and I'm glad she's so happy." She sat down on the bench too.
"Did I told you lately that smoking is unhealthy?"
She smiled and he gave her a half smile back.
Suddenly both their mobile phones vibrated. Surprised they took their phones out. It was a message from Usagi, telling them to immediately assemble at the throne room.
Quiet moments after an almost sleepless night were overrated anyway.
He got up, downed the rest of his coffee and extinguished his cigarette in the ashtray. Then he motioned towards the palace and looked at Setsuna.
"Shall we?"
They were one of the first ones to arrive. Shortly followed by Makoto, who looked tired but didn't act the way.
"Dip and Energy Drinks Team 1 provided me with. Proven combo."
Ah yes, the Royal Cardiologist might like to have a word with you dear Mistress of Lightning.
He sat down behind a pillar in the room and closed his eyes a bit until someone kicked his shoe sole.
Who else could the kicker have been other than a certain short haired blonde, wearing a flight suit.
She looked down on him.
"Are you really sleeping in the throne room? Wow, you're on time for once and still fuck up." SunTzu opened his eyes and sighed while he straightened his back.
"Good Morning to you too my dear friend. How are you this morning?" He replied sarcastically.
"Mate, you look like shit." She let him know.
"Ask me how I feel."
"What the hell did you do all night." Haruka asked him, now looking curious.
SunTzu waved with his hand.
"You wouldn't believe anyway."
The last one to actually appear was a yawning Ami.
And as soon as she was halfway into the room, the meeting began.
"To cut things short. We're heading out again, tomorrow morning we move out. The Fleet is starting a counter-offensive and we will support it." Artemis told the attendees.
About time that something happens.
When that short meeting was over it was announced that today would be used for preparations. That would mean early off duty and finally some sleep.
He left the throne room together with a hyped up Makoto and Ami.
"The money is in the bank. And I'm going home now. " Ami let them know, that she deposited the money.
"I don't understand what you guys have. I'm feeling totally awake." Makoto said, the words rushing out of her mouth, her eyes wide.
"If you have twenty minutes, we can share a taxi Ami." SunTzu told.
"Sounds good, I'm not able to drive anymore to be honest."
Rei and Mina came over.
"What did you guys do all night, that you're so tired now?" Rei asked them.
"You wouldn't believe anyway." All three of them said at the same time.