"Is there a better way to start your day than with beating up your boyfriend?" An impishly grinning Rei asked after her transformation.
"We'll see about that Moeru Shōjo." SunTzu responded with a challenging look on his face before he motioned her to attack. "Ladies first."
One of the best features of Rei's apartment on Coruscant was the small home gym, complete with training mats and enough room to spare.
The couple got up early and decided to train together, since it had been way too long since they had done so the last time.
Rei didn't hold back at all and went in with a jumped attack, immediately trying to punch SunTzu in the face.
In the air her boyfriend snatched her arm and threw her over him.
"Nice try." He stated but Rei did a somersault and landed on her feet like a cat.
"Nice try also." She replied as well with a ferocious grin and immediately attacked again. SunTzu could barely turn around and block her elbow she was aiming at his upper back with his arm.
"Not holding back today I see."
"It's been so long that I really have to savor this." Rei replied as she snowed him with punches and kicks, putting SunTzu on the defense.
"Guess I can stop holding back as well."
"I expect as much from you, TopGun."
"You asked for it my Love." SunTzu said and used a force push to gain some time and room, making Rei jump back before the telekinetic attack would make her fall.
"It's so much more fun if you use your powers as well." She blew a strand of hair out of her face while SunTzu took on a combat stance. "Mars!"
Her right hand engulfed in flames.
"Going this far already?" SunTzu asked with a satisfied look on his face.
"What's the matter? Usually you like to play with fire."
"I do, but If you burn this place down, we're in trouble."
"Don't worry, I got this."
"If you say so. But I'm not gonna buy you an apartment on Coruscant just because you made yourself homeless."
Rei stormed forward, striking out with her burning fist.
"Less talking, more action!" She yelled as she pounced forward like a Banshee.
SunTzu needed all his skills and the force to dodge her attacks and she was so fast that the flames around her hand made fiery trails in the air.
He tried to counter with a kick to her knee but she dodged it in the last moment and put all her energy into a punch while he took a swing too.
Just mere centimeters apart their fists and with this his force power and her fire magic collided and the fire emblazed the air in between them but didn't hurt SunTzu as the Force shielded him.
Their gazes locked and they were looking into each other's sweat drenched face.
"Draw?" SunTzu asked with a satisfied grin.
"We determine the winner in the shower, although we have to hurry. Someone has a new job and wants to make a good impression, at least in the first week."
Rei left the house an hour later and SunTzu stayed in the apartment, taking care of some organizational stuff, like flight plans for AICA.
The new recruits for the Taskforce still needed more time, so it was pretty uncertain that they would be deployed soon. The pilot also made a phone call to Tokyo and ordered something special, a gift for him and Rei.
In the repulsor car to the Senate, car of the senate's motor pool, Rei called her grandfather and told him about the celebration that was held in her honor tomorrow at the Crystal Palace.
A few minutes later the call ended and she sighed and looked out the window. Grandfather Hino would love to come but he made it very clear, that he was not interested to meet her boyfriend.
Why can't he just accept that I'm happy with SunTzu and at least try to get to know him…
As Rei arrived at the Senate Building she didn't even made it inside before she heard a well known voice.
"Rei, we have to talk."
Just as he had put the phone down it rang again. It was Rei, she had been at her office just for a few minutes so he wondered what was going on.
"Hey Babe, you forgot something?" He answered.
"Hi. No, it's not this. Listen I need you here. How fast can you be here?"
SunTzu looked at his watch.
"Give me fifteen minutes."
Fourteen minutes later he landed at the Senate and with fast steps the pilot walked towards Rei's new office, while he checked the sitting of his hastily donned uniform.
He arrived at the antechamber where Izumi greeted him friendly and immediately opened the door to Rei's office.
Rei was sitting at her desk and on the other side of the table sat another black haired woman. Ada Wong.
"Good Morning SunTzu." The Intelligence Officer greeted him, her face meaning all buisness.
And SunTzu immediately knew that his leisure time was over.
"We need to talk." Ada said and motioned to the chair next to her. SunTzu glanced over to Rei, her face showed a certain sorrow.
SunTzu sat down, still trying to figure out what was going on.
"What's the big deal? Another enemy attack wave?"
"Fortunately not." Ada replied.
"Ada has an import mission for you."
SunTzu stared a second at Rei before he shifted his gaze to Ada again.
"Indeed I have. We have a highly volatile situation regarding our negotiations of an accession of the rest of the Tion Cluster into the GFFA."
"Which sounds like a job for the Sixth. I'm sure a Commander as capable as Admiral Niathal will take good care of the Situation. And If things escalate, well i wouldn't fuck around with the Mon Cal Fleet."
"It's not that easy you know, it's not only an intelligence or military situation but a diplomatic as well. The coffers of the state of the Cronese Mandate have been stolen. And the records show that it was a bunch of ex-GA SpecForces, reportedly on the way to Trogan in the Outer Rim. The Mandate doesn't know about this yet but if they find it out, there is no more chance that the Mandate, and their mineral rich planets and processing plants will join the GA. We don't have to talk about how important these minerals are as raw material for us."
SunTzu exchanged another look with Rei before Ada continued.
"We could sent the fleet after them of course but that would complicate things even more. So we need someone that can do the job without being traced back to us. And bring us back the treasure before the Mandate gets to know it was former GA Soldiers."
"Alright. But I need to be on earth by tomorrow noon."
"I'm sorry, this will not be possible. This is the most urgent mission in the whole galaxy right now and you're the only Asset available." Ada told him and Rei didn't say a thing but instead nodded approvingly.
SunTzu stared at Rei for a moment before he pressed his lips together and nodded as well.
"Fine. Guess I'll get going then." He said and turned around. "Sent me the mission data to AICA, Ada."
"SunTzu… Babe, I-I am s…"
"It's fine Rei. Enjoy your celebration. Duty before pleasure. As you already know."
The fact alone that he was commandeered to another side of the universe made him angry but he could get over that, he was a officer after all. But that small feeling of relieve he could feel deep down in her when she told him he wouldn't join tomorrow really hit him, angered him.
Rei contemplated to run behind him but fell into brooding.
Although he appeared completely calm she could feel anger growing inside him. Of course, this would mean she wouldn't have problems regarding her grandfather but she also didn't want SunTzu to miss out. As well as she wouldn't want her grandfather to miss it.
"I'll get over to my office and sent him the mission data. I'm sorry I have to borrow him on your great day tomorrow but as Senator you know how important this is."
Rei jolted up from her thoughts and SunTzu was already out of both rooms.
"Y-yes, I am aware of this. I'm sure he will fix this for the Alliance. You know how good he is."
"AICA, we're heading out on the Perlemian and taking course to Centares."
"Centares? That's quite a distance. What about earth tomorrow?"
"New Orders, looks like we're the only ones available for the Alliance's dirty work."
The first part of the journey was boring and SunTzu couldn't cool down his anger. There was literally a temple full of Jedi on Coruscant, thousands of Spec Forces and the own Operatives of Intelligence, yet they had to sent him. He didn't even consider him as the best on the ground, his prime deployment was Pilot after all.
Even while he checked the mission data he couldn't shake it.
After a few hours of angering he decided to meditate to calm down.
SunTzu really tried but he couldn't concentrate enough and his mind always wandered around, questioning why he could feel relieve from Rei that he wouldn't be there tomorrow. Was it because her grandfather? Or was it because he was just a mere pilot? Wasn't he good enough anymore? Did he do something wrong? He couldn't tell.
Since meditating didn't work out as planned the pilot decided to try to get some sleep in.
It took some time but finally he managed to slip off into some uneasy sleep. He dreamt about his time on Kamino. What did his old SOF Trainer, the grizzled Stormcommando, had always said? All soldiers, nobody how good they are, were expandable assets. The word expandable asset lingered in his head.
Yeah, Gistess said the same. Infantry was more aware of the fact, that they were mere assets. What was one soldier, one platoon, a company or even a whole division to the survival of the whole Galaxy and the Alliance. Gistess had said that Pilots usually didn't thought about that much because they were too cocky out of the cockpit and too busy while inside. But it was the same. Was the pilot more worth than the Starfighter he flew? Or the tank driver more than his tank. For the top brass, the politicians, the bureaucrats and the nobility they were just assets like their machinery. Sometimes probably worth even less.
SunTzu jolted up from his fretful dozing.
Rei isn't the same as other politicians, is she?
No… NO! She is a warrior as well, had been most of her life. She's different.
But even if Rei was different, what about all those other rotten politicians, and the people making deals with the enemy for profit? The rogue soldiers? The mercenaries? The businessmen only interested in credits?
No matter how hard he tried, SunTzu just couldn't shake his anger off.
An alarm went off and AICA fell out of hyperspace at the Centares System.
SunTzu had his hand on the controls. They would stay some time in system and check the newest available Intel on the thieves. An Undercover Intelligence Agent had been able to plant a transmitter on the thieves ship but his cover was blown immediately after and his corpse was left head blown off near a landing spot on Lianna.
"I read strange measurements from your vitals. Your pulse is way higher than usual. Are you okay?" AICA asked SunTzu after a few moments of flying.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. It's just that I'm pissed a bit." As he said the last sentence his mind focused back on how many things were nagging on him.
An alarm began to blare again.
"Increase in energy level!" AICA stated. "What did you do?"
"I-I did nothing, just thought about how pissed at the universe I am right now."
"Do it again!" AICA commanded and SunTzu forced himself to think about what annoyed him again.
"It's there again. My sensors tell me It's like back then when Marvin was shot down, just not that high. But somehow you're applying energy into my systems."
"How can that be? A human's bio energy sure isn't strong enough to… Oh, now I got it. It's the Force. The Force or rather it's energy flows through me and into you." He activated some systems and brought up shields and engines to maximum. "Let's try it again. And this time try to use the excessive energy in the subsystems." He ordered the Artifical Energy.
"Affirmative. Unless it's becoming a danger because the energy levels get too high."
Once again SunTzu voluntarily set his mood even worse and suddenly AICA's sensor reported a surge in available energy and her shield and the engines became stronger. A yellow glow made the shield visible now. SunTzu concentrated himself on keeping up but it drained too much energy out of him and after just a few seconds the energy levels were back to normal.
"I don't know how you do that but it's really pushing my systems beyond. I just had 120 percent energy on both shields and thrusters. Although not even I can explain it."
"The force works in mysterious ways my dear AICA. But this is something we should definitely should investigate but keep it between us by now. And I mean it, not even to Hotaru and Rei."
"I promise to keep my mouth shut. I have to admit it was quite the pleasant sensation to push over my boundaries."
SunTzu nodded, a deep tiredness coming over him now. He yawned before he turned to speak to AICA again.
"We got that data yet? Can we move on?"
"Negative. I'm waiting for a word from Intelligence but so far have nothing."
SunTzu nodded his head and grabbed for a ration bar in one of the compartments on his side.
"Wunderbar. Fucking wunderbar." He said before he ripped open the packaging and took a bite out of the bar.
Two hours later, SunTzu even had landed on a space station now to stretch out his feet, AICA reported that she finally had the info. The former elite soldiers were really on Trogan.
SunTzu, pissed again, as he just had sat down to eat, rushed back to his ship and as soon as they shot out the space station, AICA got ready for the jump.
With a growling stomach SunTzu decided to check the target data again.
If they wouldn't move out they would be in one of the tourist cities of Trogan. Modified CEC YT-2400 Freighter. At least six suspects, two male humans, a female human, a Wookiee, a Bothan and a Zygerrian. Former SpecForces and Veterans of the Swarm and Vong Wars.
SunTzu thought it too be sarcastic as the report stated the main reason for the theft of the coffers was the need for money as the benefits for Veterans were to low for most Veterans to survive on.
Expandable Assets. And then they don't even pay you right if you make it to retirement. No wonder there were so many pirates and Mercs in the galaxy. Which the enemy took full advantage of. Yeah, most parts of the GA were nearly broke after ten years of rebuilding from the Vong War but there had to be done something against this. Those were the people that had put their life on the lines in the last wars.
Maybe I can talk with Rei about this. Maybe she can change things, now that she is a Senator…
Thinking about Rei stung. He looked at his chrono. She probably was on her way to earth right now.
SunTzu closed his eyes against the headache that began to sting inside his head.
The pilot decided to try to sleep again as the trip still would be long enough. But just as before he couldn't sleep well and nightmares haunted him.
Expandable Asset. The Face of his trainer. The face of Gistess. The face of Ada. The faces of Artemis, of Mamoru, of the Neo-Queen.
The face of Rei.
Expandable Asset.
SunTzu roused out of sleep.
His head still was aching and overall he felt like shit. Instead of feeling refreshed he felt worse than before. Why everything today was working on his nerves?
He needed a moment but then checked his chrono. How long had he been gone?
Wow, not even a minute before they would fall out of hyperspace for the next jump point to Trogan. At least his inner clock and his timing still worked like a charm.
The pilot sighed, Rei's celebration ceremony would start in a mere few hours.
The celebration went great and as planned, hundreds of guests, among them the German Chancellor, the French President, the Prime Ministers of the UK and Japan, the Secretary General of the United Nations, the crown prince of the United Kingdom and his father as well as the State Secretaries of the US, Russia and India. Dozens of other diplomats were on location as well as hundreds of journalists. Thousands of Crystal Tokyo's and Tokyo's citizens were following the spectacle from the public parts of the Royal Gardens. Rei's grandfather, all the friends of the Senshi and their families were there. Even Takashi Hino, current Secretary of the Interior of Japan and Rei Hino's father was there, he was sitting right next to his Prime Minister in one of the top rows and Rei was torn between actually feeling happy about it and asking Motoki to let the Guard forcefully remove him.
"Leave him be. He is probably feeling miserable enough already, as his daughter he never really cared for succeeded his career." Grandfather Hino, who hated the man that left his dying daughter alone, when she needed him the most, told her as she was eyeing the location where the ceremony would be held from inside the palace, just minutes prior it's beginning, her grandfather and the Koronians behind her.
Grandpa is right and he hates Father. Father probably will become the next Prime Minister of Japan, but what's a country to a Galaxy.
The Senshi began to smile, she still felt proud of herself. She was here because she did it. And not even her father could take that away from her.
She just wished he would be here as well. She should had protested more. Of course it wasn't as important as the inauguration on Coruscant but it was the event that would let Earth and it's inhabitants officially know that they were now part of something bigger than just one planet.
There was something else bothering Rei as well. SunTzu wasn't the only one missing she'd also like to see here .
Neo-Queen Serenity opened the ceremony with a speech, telling the world how important an affiliation with the rest of the galaxy was and how many chances this created for a better planet and life for everyone of his inhabitants.
She also remembered the world how important it was to stand together in unity, especially in these daring times.
And then she mentioned how honored and happy she was to introduce her very close long time friend as Senator of the Sol System.
Senator Rei Hino, popular with the world's 12 to 49 years old lately, was celebrated with thunderous applause that came over from the Royal Gardens and from the location the ceremony was held, as she stepped to the speakers desk.
She thanked her Queen, her fellow campaigners, the Diplomatic Corps of the Kingdom and the GA and last but not least, and as a little side blow towards her biological father, her grandfather. She also thanked "a very special guy that can't be here today." It was a bit enigmatic and her grandfather didn't like it but the people that knew found it to be adorable.
Then she outlined what her course and the course of the Sol System in the system would be and how honored and grateful she was to be the one that was Sol's Senator.
She ended her speech with well wishes for the whole Planet and that she hoped she could count on the planet's leaders support in her work.
She bowed down and stepped away from the speaker's desk.
Even louder and longer applause and standing ovations followed and a visible happy Rei bowed down again and waved at the crowd.
A banquet was to follow in the early evening after a reception, where the guests mingled with each other.
Rei's father came over in person as Rei just had finished talking with the German Chancellor.
"Rei?" He asked from behind.
"Father." No bow, no smile from the daughter. "Thank you for coming. I hope you enjoy the political opportunities this reception brings."
To the Senshi's astonishment her father extended his hand towards her. A very western way to show his respect, but after all he was half US-American.
"Congratulations Rei." Eyes wide open she looked at his hand for a moment before she took it and recieved what at least felt like a genuine handshake from her estranged father.
"Th-thank you. Dad."
"Good luck." With the smallest hint of a smile he nodded and walked away, heading for the American Delegation.
Rei let her gaze follow him before she shook her head in disbelief and smirked for the blink of an eye.
Thousands of light years away SunTzu was now finally orbiting the Planet Trogan. The way from Centares to Trogan, took longer than the whole way before.
"AICA find every place on the where a YT-2400 had landed lately. And see if you got any footage of Rei's ceremony."
"I'm on it."
A minute later AICA came on again.
"I'm still on the YTs. And about Rei, I'm sorry but there's no holo broadcast about the ceremony. I just have some pictures from Social Media." The AI made a pause, another very human gesture. "I strongly advise you to stay away from social media the next few days."
"Why?"
"I rather don't tell. You seem pissed already, my voice sensors tells me."
"AICA?!"
"Okay, okay. But I warned you."
"What could be so bad?"
"I open some Tweets. Please don't freak out."
Wow. Just Wow. I'm not even gone for two days from Rei's side and miss one event and the Internet already thinks Rei dropped me.
She's better off without him… Probably a child killer anyway like all soldiers… I didn't like him for a second… He wasn't in her league anyway… How can he not be there on such an important day for her...
Holy Shit, the Web sure has a lot to tell about me.
Fuck you Internet, she didn't drop me. At least as far as I know…
SunTzu drew in air sharply, this wasn't doing any good for his mood either.
"See, I told you, but you were so eager to see it. Anyways, I got the list of YT-2400s on the planet and there's just one, that arrived yesterday and landed at one of the popular tourist destinations.
"Let's go then."
AICA and SunTzu had descended on the planet and AICA secretly dropped her pilot a few hundreds meters away from the city.
Although the nearby city was famous for it's tourism the weather was anything than inviting, apparently it was monsoon season over here, as it was raining cats and dogs. Furthermore it was foggy and one's sight in the open was reduced immensely.
Before SunTzu could even take out a neutral, olive colored rain poncho out of one of AICA's storage compartments, he was soaked to the bone.
And, after he walked onto a street to the city and thought his mood couldn't get any worse, he came to the city gate and into a queue of people waiting to get inside, while the morning fog slowly lifted. The rain stayed though.
Cold, hungry, tired and half the galaxy away from the woman that he loved, who had a banquet in her honor right now, he had to wait over half an hour in the pouring rain to be let inside. Apparently it was market day and it seemed that everybody from the outlying farms and villages wanted to get into the city, no matter the rain.
Dozens of people, most of them either packed with fruits, vegetables, live animals or other goods were waiting in line.
And that was just the line for footmobiles, the line of repulsor carts, cars and other means of transportation was even longer.
At least the Control at the gate had no problems immediately accepting his fake ID, the one of Max Mustermann.
The man behind the desk checking the documents wished him a good evening but was startled when he looked SunTzu into the eyes when giving back his ID. SunTzu put such a death stare on the man, that it frightened the man to the core.
While walking over to the spaceport and the landing spots a tired vehicle, a truck rushed past SunTzu and hit a puddle, spilling dirty brown water on the Earthling.
And this finally broke the last straw, more angered than ever before, at least ad far as he could remember, SunTzu would have liked to scream out, to curse loudly and profane but he concentrated on the mission and let his anger dwell further inside and he accelerated his step towards the direction AICA gave him before.
Ada told him that the thieves were expendable if problems would arise, and SunTzu was pretty glad about it. Detaining SpecForces, especially if they're from Alien Races wasn't easy. He grabbed into the poncho's pockets and made sure again that Vibro blade and blaster pistol were there.
When SunTzu arrived at the spaceport he almost immediately found the YT-2400, as battered as most CEC Freighters. A dark-brown colored Wookiee was guarding the entrance ramp with a bowcaster in his gigantic arms.
The Wookiee did a firm job at guarding and was cautiously scanning the surroundings SunTzu observed. God, he wished he could just snap the mighty creature's neck with a snap of his finger the pilot thought in his anger, that had built up ever he left Coruscant and pierced the Wookiee with his gaze.
Suddenly the towering Wookiee flinched and put his hand onto his neck, a sharp pain stung on the back of his neck.
Calmly SunTzu set himself in motion and walked over to the landing spot.
Like it was nothing he produced the compact blaster pistol and shot the Wookiee which was holding his hurting neck now, in the chest. The Wookiee put a hand on the wound in his chest and hunkered down, trying to stay conscious when he saw a pair of yellow glowing eyes under an olive hood coming towards him before the pain overtook his senses.
Passing him by SunTzu shot the Wookiee in the side of his skull like it was nothing and casually walked up the ramp into the freighter.
As soon as he was in the ship he used the force to close the ramp and walked further inside.
Near the ramp stood the Zygerrian and when the former soldier turned around when he heard the ramp close he was greeted by the barrel of a laser pistol to his temple and before he could blink he was dead with a headshot.
SunTzu removing the hood now, his eyes really glowing a shade of yellow, immediately walked over to the cockpit. The door was open and while a male human was sitting on the pilot seat and checking instruments, a woman was standing beside him and checking a console hanging on the side of the pilot seat.
SunTzu double tapped the woman in the middle of her thorax and in the space between her nose and her eyes before he shot the pilot, who wasn't even able to turn around anymore, in the back of his head. The corpse of the woman hit the frame of the ship and slowly trailing along it slid down to the ground, while the pilot stayed in the position he was, not even slumping over.
Without a second glance SunTzu turned around again and made his back to the other side of the ship.
When he came back into the central room where the ramp was located again, a door was open and while the Bothan was checking the corpse of the Zygerrian another human male was storming out of the room, a blaster rifle raised but looking over to the Bothan.
SunTzu's Force-powered reflexes were faster than theirs and as soon as he arrived he shot the Bothan in the knee cap and in the fracture of a second the Earthling shot the human in his left eye before he draw the Vibro Knife out of his other pocket and from the top rammed it in the skull of the Bothan, that was hissing out in pain, kneeing on his unwounded leg.
SunTzu checked the rest of the ship and found a sleeping human, snoring loudly, earplugs and a sleeping mask on as well as a empty bottle of booze at the feet of the bed, in one of the bunk beds in the living quarters of the ship.
Another point blank headshot later, the man never woke up at all, SunTzu had cleared the whole ship and when he checked the storage of the ship he immediately found the Cronese Mandate's national treasure.
He went back to the cockpit, dragged the dead pilot out of his seat and activated the avionics.
While he got ready to lift off, SunTzu activated his communicator.
"Target secured. I'm taking the freighter, calculate a course for us to Coruscant and let Ada know, that we're on our way back."
The Pilot lifted the freighter off as soon as he could and ignored the incoming radio traffic from the flight control.
The controller of the spaceport couldn't reach the CEC Freighter that just had left off and wanted to inform the security forces of the planet only to find that something jammed all radios going out of the city. All he could do was watching the Freighter disappear in the grey skies.
AICA had found a way faster route to Centares and as soon as AI had sent the jump calculations and both ships were in hyperspace, SunTzu stood up from the freighter's pilot seat.
He needed the refresher. And hopefully they had some food on this piece of junk. And that rain poncho was done for as well. Apparently he had hit an artery in the bothan's skull because when he pulled out the knife again it got quite messy.
Casually and not caring at all he stepped over the two corpses in the cockpit and left the room.
On Earth the banquet for the newly appointed Galactic Senator of the System was in full swing in the meantime.
"Ah, Bollocks to that! Oi Artemis, following up the chain of command I wanna officially complain. Why the Kraut has to be on mission on a day like that? Isn't there anybody else left to do at least something in this Galaxy anymore?"
A mad Haruka asked Artemis, the festive bouquet after the reception had begun.
"I'm with you on this. If it was for me he would be here as well, but since he's not on a mission for the military, but for the Intelligence Service so I can't change it."
Haruka looked along the long dinner table towards Ami that was a few seats away, next to Ryu and Makoto.
"Before you say something, Ami wouldn't have been able as well. The orders came straight from Coruscant. You know that Agent Wong has the last word about his deployment."
Rei, her grandfather, sporting a proud look on his face, sitting to her right and the Queen to her left, took a sip of the white wine in front of her. Everything was going perfect, but something or rather someone really was missing. And the longer he was gone, the more she realized it. She really should have protested more.
Her grandfather excused himself and got up. As soon as he was gone, Minako sat down next to her.
"Rei, we have to talk."
"If it's about that you want to have something with the crown prince of the UK again, snap out of it. He's married now."
"And he left his wife home. If that isn't telling you something."
"That's because she has small children at home."
"That was a joke, our one night stand was over ten years ago. And don't worry I'm not gonna have something with a married man, a father as well, but that isn't why I'm here."
"Good. So what is it then?"
"It's about SunTzu. And your grandfather. I know it's not your fault he's not here, but just as food for thought, could it be that you didn't really insist on him being here because you didn't want him to meet your grandpa yet?"
Rei angrily stared at Minako for a moment before she let out a sigh.
"Maybe. But it's not that easy."
"Rei, they're the most important men in your life, what's the problem to tell them just to get along?"
"Minako, it's not that easy. Grandpa is not ready yet."
Now Minako sighed.
"Rei, for real. You should be happy that SunTzu is playing along with this so unbothered."
"And I'm very thankful that he takes it that well. He seems to actually take it better than you Minako."
Rei looked at Minako, the raven haired was annoyed by now.
"Rei, I didn't want to anger you, especially not today. I just wanted to tell you that, because he's so crazy in love with you and I'm sure it would mean a lot to him. You know, he seems old fashioned in some points." Minako said and motioned to the ring finger on the left hand with a wink.
Rei's eyes widened in surprise.
"Oh, come on Rei. As that didn't crossed your mind yet."
"It, it did but you know… do you know if he's planning anything?"
"No, I know of nothing. But I'm pretty sure meeting your grandfather and getting his permission to ask for your hand in marriage is one of the points that are important for him to do before."
Rei nodded, a bit absent.
"Guess you're right. I have to force grandpa more in the right direction."
The two women saw that Rei's grandfather was coming back and Minako got up from the old man's seat.
"Minako?"
"Hm?"
"Thanks for the headsup."
Minako smiled widely.
"You're welcome." The blonde leaned down and kissed Rei's forehead briefly.
"I'm so proud of you." She hushed before she walked away and embraced Grandpa Hino, leaving a smiling Rei behind.
"Grandpa! Promise me we both dance together later on!" The blonde Senshi yelled out happily while she hugged the old man.
It was late evening when SunTzu arrived at Coruscant. Ada had ordered him and AICA to land at a military landing platform at a base near the Senate District.
After some amount of time had passed since he stepped into the transporter, after the anger and the adrenaline finally had vanished, he had carried the two corpses out of the cockpit because he couldn't take being around them anymore. As soon as he was done he had to throw up heavily, until only bile came out, at the door leading into the cockpit.
After taking another trip to the refresher, he felt dirty from the inside out, he tried to meditate but he couldn't shake the negative feelings and the physical and psychological exhaustion that had overwhelmed him, soon after he jumped into Hyperspace.
Expendable Assets. You'd give your life for the Galaxy and then they leave you without a perspective and if you dare trying to change your luck, you get killed by the government that once made you an asset.
SunTzu wondered if that would be how he would go out as well. Fuck, this all felt like a quote from a Batman movie. Live long enough to die as the villain.
It hurted to think about how the Galaxy treated it's Veterans.
SunTzu began to fell dull. Could some of his friends end like that as well? Hulk or Dish for example?
Was all this worth it for the regular guy? For the grunts, tankers, vehicle pilots, the NCOs? How good was the brass that left things like they were for veterans?
Brooding over this he had felt asleep soon after they arrived at Centares and jumped on.
That sleep had been uneasy and nightmare fueled again, nightmares of his friends and his lover calling him a murderer, a tool, a senseless killer.
SunTzu tried to silence the headache in his skull and the nagging feeling if he didn't crossed the line to the dark once more as he stepped out the Transporter.
A tactical Intelligence Service Team immediately boarded and Ada, accompanied by Leon, stood at the foot of the ramp.
"You look horrible." Was the first thing the Intelligence Officer stated as she she behold SunTzu.
With dark rings under his eyes SunTzu just stared at her for a moment before he wheezed.
"Mission accomplished, no surviving enemy assets. And If you don't mind I'll go home now." The Pilot said with a tired voice and walked past the Spy and her boyfriend, towards his starfighter that had landed nearby and waited with an open canopy. The word enemy hasn't been more as a whisper.
Ada followed him with her gaze but didn't say anything more.
A few moments later SunTzu and AICA were gone again.
"Ada don't you think this is wrong? Someone else could have done that mission." Leon quietly asked as they watched AICA disappear in the clouds.
"I am the one that brought him here Leon, the one that is responsible for his development in the end. I need him to bring out his full potential and end all this as soon as possible. For his own sake and the sake of the whole galaxy. Too many innocent have died already, just because we are acting too slow and not with full force. I respect the Jedi but he can't bring out his full potential and take on Chaos if we just pamper him. Even if that means we have to cross some lines."
Two and a half hours later, SunTzu had stoically been staring out the cockpit all the way to earth, no matter if he had been in real or hyperspace. AICA had taken over the flying and she landed on an empty beach somewhere on Okinawa, after he told her to do so. And that was the only full sentence he spoke the whole flight.
It was almost two in the morning but he really needed a smoke. Maybe that would clear his mind a bit.
SunTzu was sitting on AICA's front, pilot suit pulled down to his hip, dog tag hanging over the white tank top he was wearing beneath, his hair tousled and his feet hanging over the edge and smoked a cigarette, still brooding.
He felt empty, lifeless. He had a purpose, or more a duty, being a weapon and piloting AICA, but did that mean his life had a meaning? Duty over everything, was he even allowed to have a meaning in life? Wasn't he just an asset as well?
He took the last draw of his cigarette and flipped it away, the blaze flying in all directions when the cigarette hit the ground.
It was time to get back to Crystal Tokyo, he wanted, no he needed, to feel something again.
Rei woke up in the middle of the night. Or rather was woken up from a strange feeling inside her. Something inside told her to get up and step on her balcony, although the sky were still heavily clouded from the rain shower earlier that evening. She just was wearing a Yukata but it wasn't as cold as she expected it to be.
The dark clouds were so heavy and low that it looked like she could touch them from the Crystal Tower. She could hear a familiar sound getting closer and a few moments later, AICA broke trough the clouds and hovered down on Rei's balcony with her repulsors only.
The cockpit opened and SunTzu jumped out, landing on the water covered balcony in front of Rei.
It was dark and she couldn't really see his face as he was just standing there and looking at her, but she could feel his sorrow and his exhaustion. The anger that had been there before was now a sadness, an abyss of negativity. But in midst all this darkness she could feel a small spark of light. Love.
His love for her.
She ran over to him and embraced him, hugged him as tight as she could, her head on his chest, as he, reluctant at first but then firmly reciprocated the embrace with his arms.
She looked up and glanced into his face and smiled.
"You're home." She said, a statement that in this moment meant the world for him.
In the same moment she leaned upward he leanded downward and their lips met. What began as a tender welcome kiss soon developed into a passionate kiss between lovers that needed each other more than anything else in the galaxy.
He grabbed her by the waist and lifting her up took a few steps forward until her back was at the crystalline wall or rather window of the tower.
Mouths opened their tongues playing with one another's and their teeth nibbling at each other's lips he used his knee to slightly open her legs while she had her back against the wall.
His left hand slipped under the Yukata and grabbed her breast while the other hand opened the belt of the piece of clothing and exposed her body.
He ended his kiss with a suck on her lips before his mouth trailed downwards.
The Pilot's left hand squeezed her breast as he kissed his way down her throat.
His right hand moved around her other chest and his fingers twirled her nipple, drawing a moan from her.
SunTzu leaned down and let his tongue glide over the nipple before he turned to the other chest and sucked on her other nipple.
His face came up again and he kissed her again, his tongue entering her mouth.
Suddenly and without any warning SunTzu dropped down on his knees, took her leg and laid it atop his shoulder before he buried his face in her sex.
His tongue got to work on her while one of his hands grabbed around her ass and pressed her lower body against his face, making Rei moan out louder than before, her hand grabbing around the back of his head.
His tongue was now dancing around her clitoris, slowly closing in on it and his hand pressed against her buttock.
Finally he began to let his tongue glide over her most sensitive spot, sparking another moan from her.
After a few more licks and a suck on her clit he stopped, wiped with his hand over his mouth and stood up.
He grabbed her by the waist with his hands, turned her around and pressed her against the crystal of the Tower.
Then he pulled down his pilot suit and his underwear and produced his already throbbing cock.
Using one hand to navigate it in her wet slit he put the other over her mouth, muffling the moan as he slowly entered her.
Centimeter by centimeter he glided inside until he filled her completely. He stayed like that for a moment and leaned forward to kiss her neck before he began to slowly pull out again.
When he was almost completely out again, he slowly glided back into her again.
He continued to do so and got faster with every thrust.
Rei already was quivering when he finally began to fuck her right, with hard, deep strokes.
Their bodies synched their movements and she welcomed his strokes with the movements of her hips.
SunTzu let his hand glide over her body, her stomach and her breasts, before he let it travel down to her lap and began to use his fingers to stimulate her clitoris.
Suddenly, while he had just been thrusting hard into her, he stopped and pulled out, grabbed her with both his arms and turned her around, so that she would face him.
As soon as he could lay a glance on her face he pressed his lips on hers, while she slung her body against him.
Using a hand to help he entered her in this position and began to thrust again and their kisses muffled her moans.
SunTzu exactly knew where Rei was going and he used his body to press the raven haired against the tower while he put both his hands around her cheeks. He wanted to see her eyes when she would be cumming. The Senshi of Fire needed every bit of concentration she still could muster to not moan out loud as she felt him moving not only in and out but also rolling around with his hips. Her hand grabbed around his neck again, pulling him in, as her life was depending on him being as close to her as possible.
With her last bit of wit she pressed her lips on his, their mouths opening and his next deep thrust carried her over into an orgasm, making her break the kiss and burying her mouth on his chest to not scream out loud.
Her twitching made him finally loose his mind as well and he yanked up her head and kissed her to not moan out loud as he pumped his climax into her still convulsing inside.
SunTzu was still breathing heavily when the lovers finally broke their kiss and Rei began to caress his head and face, her legs still halfway pulled around him.
Suddenly his body tension loosened up and he sighed.
After a moment the pilot lifted his head and looked the Senator in the eyes, her left hand was fondling his face, the sensation of his soft beard under her fingers.
"Tell me I'm not just an expandable asset." He told her, his voice weary.
She pulled her hand away from his face and used both arms to embrace him, pressing her whole being against him, her eyes closed.
"Not for me."
She whispered into the night as she held him close, pressing her head against his, gently kissing his chin.
"Never were and never will be."