Anniten had kept her word, she really did give SunTzu some unforgettable days on her planet. Or rather in it's orbit.
SunTzu had been brought onboard of a Super Star Destroyer.
He had woken up in a cell aboard the ship a whole day after stepping foot on Anniten's yacht, he had been gone for the whole flight to Linta.
Anniten and Dischna, escorted by armed guards were there when he openend his eyes.
The Guards opened the door and then pulled him out.
"Anniten, what the hell is this about?" He had asked his girlfriend.
With a smirk she looked at him for a moment and than slapped him hard across the face.
"You tried to kill my brother." Then she turned around.
"He's all yours, Dischna." She said as she walked away and the platinum blonde valkyria cracked her fingers and clenched them into fists.
"You don't have any idea, how long I have been waiting for this."
And then she threw her first punch, right into SunTzu's guts, followed by punches into his face.
After she had beaten him to a pulp she ordered the guards to carry him away.
SunTzu was brought into a torture chamber and each of his limbs was strapped into a device which held him up.
As expected the apparatus was more than just a measure to constrain him and soon the first electric shocks were sent through his body.
For two days torture session after torture session followed, sometimes electro shocks, sometimes physical violence like punches and of course deprivation of food, sleep and water. SunTzu also learned that waterboarding wasn't a torture method which was exclsuively used on Earth.
When Anniten was there she seemed to get quite the rush out of SunTzu's torture. Sometimes it even seemed to turn her on.
The First Knight of Crystal Tokyo was trained to withstand torture so step by step the sessions got harder to endure as the intensity of the violence applied increased.
What nagged SunTzu in his tired and exhausted mind was that he was never questioned about secrets or any information to give. It seemed he only got tortured to break him and entertain his torturers. The other thing that got him thinking was that his connection to the Force felt like shattered again. As if someone, or something, was blocking his access to the Force.
Psychologically it was even harder than physically.
The woman he had fallen in love with not only had betrayed him and was apparently allied with the enemy, she also enjoyed the torture he had to go through.
It was the beginning of the third day of his struggle and SunTzu remembered vaguely how two guards had carried him back to the torture chamber before he felt asleep again, as his body tried everything it could to save energy.
He was awoken by electro shocks and when he slowly opened his eyes again, he noticed Anniten and Dischna standing in front of him, a few meters away.
Dischna was dressed in a dark grey uniform, while Anniten was dressed in a golden dress. She was tarted up as if she would go to a party or similar celebration.
"Wake up, Loverboy. And take a look at your girlfriend. I dressed myself up just for you."
Anniten approached him and stopped in front of his face. She grinned as she leaned up to him and cupped his bruised face.
"Happy Birthday, Baby." She kissed him and SunTzu tried to pull his face away but as weak as he was, he couldn't get out of her grip.
"Still fighting. I like that you're so hardheaded." She smiled into his face after she broke the kiss.
And then SunTzu could feel a hand on his dick, unwillingfull erect from the electric shocks.
"Mhm, maybe I should let you bring into my quarters. You know, birthday sex."
SunTzu used all his strength to glare at her.
"Crazy bitch." He spat out.
"Hm, maybe not then. Too bad." She turned around and shrugged her shoulders. "Guess then it's back to the usual program." She turned to Dischna and her voice went cold.
"Dischna, show him your appreciation for his birthday."
Anniten walked out of the door as SunTzu started screaming while the manically laughing Dischna sent more electric shocks through him.
Dischna shocked him so hard that he began to emit smoke and he had fallen unconscious when she turned off the electricity.
A guard had to proof SunTzu was still alive and when the guard nodded that SunTzu's heart was still beating, Dischna walked over and slapped him hard in the face to wake him up, which only worked halfway.
A bucket of water followed and woke SunTzu up fully.
"Too bad I'm not allowed to kill you. I really want to know how much you can really take." Dischna complained and then sighed loudly.
"Get him back to his cell." She then commanded the guards.
SunTzu was brought to his cell where he got a few stale ration bars and a can of water.
He was so weak by then that he had to lay down to be able to eat.
After greedily chugging and wolving the small ration of water and food down he immediately fell asleep.
When SunTzu opened his eyes again something was different. He didn't wake up on the hard plank bed in the jail cell above Linta.
No, this was his bed in his apartment in Juban.
While he still tried to figure out what happened and how he got there, the door suddenly rang.
Still wondering what the hell was happening and if his imprisonment on Linta just had been a bad dream, he rushed to the door.
Just dressed in boxer shorts and not even thinking about looking through the spyhole he opened the door.
And was greeted by the red turning face of the person he least expected to see.
"Uhm, TopGun… I… c-can you please put some clothes on?" A blushing Rei asked him, while she covered her eyes. At least partly.
"S-sorry…" SunTzu said and immediately went back to his living room.
He stopped after a few steps and turned around again just to catch Rei, who obviously was looking at his behind, hastily look away.
"Why you don't come in already?" He said and she stepped inside while he vanished in the living room.
"Gods forbid you're coming out of their in grey sweatpants." She yelled while she took off her shoes, making SunTzu think about why for a moment.
A few moments later he came back from his room, Rei was sitting on the sofa. Her presence alone made his heart beat like a drum.
"Uhm… can I get you anything? Coffee?"
"S-sure… coffee sounds great."
While he walked over to the kitchen counter and began to fetch them some coffee, almost breaking a cup and spilling some of the coffee powder. Rei on the sofa had her knees pressed together and her hands were grabbing onto her legs.
"Not much has changed here since my last visit." She stated, her voice full of tension.
"Yeah. I haven't been here that much at all." He replied and looked at her. Their gazes met and both immediately looked the other way blushing. It was more than awkward for both of them.
SunTzu poured the water into the coffee filter and then he held in for a moment and turned around again while Rei's body language gave away her tension evermore.
"Why are you here, Rei?" He asked, his voice austere but not unfriendly.
Her head was moving like she was trying to dodge something.
"I… I wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday and although I don't have a gift I thought it would be nice to at least do it personal."
She forced a smile while SunTzu stared at her. And then he began to smile as well.
"That… that is very kind. Thank you. It means a lot."
"Yeah, you know... we've been through a lot and I hope you know, that I still care for you."
"As I do for you. Hug?"
"Hug."
She got up and they met in the middle between them for a hug.
After a few moments their heads wandered from their shoulders back up and their gazes locked again while their arms were still around each other. And both got lost in each other's eyes.
Suddenly Rei cleared her throat.
"I'm sorry, but I think I should go. You know how busy I always am. And I promised Yuichiro to meet him at the Palace for breakfast. He has been training with some of the soldiers lately and always leaves very early. Sorry you made the coffee for nothing."
She said and went back to the apartment's door with a bright red head. Not that her ex-boyfriend's cheeks weren't glowing red as well.
"No problem."
She hastily threw on her shoes again, heeled of course, and just as SunTzu had made it to the door as well she turned around, hands around her handbag and almost bowed down.
"Goodbye SunTzu. Have a nice birthday. Phobos and Deimos bid their birthday well wishes. I'll keep praying for you." She was talking fast, her words were overturning.
"Thank you Rei." SunTzu replied calm and softly.
They looked at each other for a moment, not knowing how to say goodbye to each other and every option, reaching from bowing down, hand shaking over to hugging and ending up to eloping with each other went through their heads at least once. They settled for a smitten smile.
Rei turned around and opened the door and was almost out when SunTzu spoke to her again.
"Hey Rei. I was honest, It really meant a lot to me and was a great surprise. I'm glad we're talking again."
She turned around again.
"It felt right. And I'm glad as well. See you around, TopGun. Don't do too much suicidal maniac stuff."
"Will do, Miss Senator. Keep up the good work on Coruscant."
Both shared another smile, a honest and friendly one now. And then she left and SunTzu began to ask himself if this just had really happened.
Suddenly something wet and cold hit him and he woke up again.
"Get up, Major Semana wants to have more fun with you."
It was early morning on Earth and Hotaru Meiou just had been dropped off at the Air Base of Crystal Tokyo's Military Base by a bus that brought the people to various installations on the base.
She went straight to the hangar where AICA was parked in.
They had arrived yesterday, AICA and her both had gotten a spot to Earth onboard one of the Imperial Galeons of the Taskforce, along with Karlena and a few other mechanics. AICA's repair was of highest priority and would be conducted in the next few days, as was the repair of the Far Side.
Good thing that Bestine hadn't forgotten the big part Taskforce Sol had played in it's liberation months ago and the Flagship of the Taskforce had gotten absolute priority to work on on the partly ocean based shipwrights of the planet.
"Good morning Hotaru." AICA greeted her second pilot.
"Good Morning AICA. Do I hear sadness in your voice?" Hotaru replied as she walked up to the black A-Wing.
"Well, I have to admit I wouldn't have mind a birthday fly out with the boss."
Hotaru nodded slowly.
"Yes. It's strange to not be able to congratulate him personally." But then she looked up to the optical sensor of AICA, the closest thing the spaceframe-based AI had to eyes and shot her a small smile.
"This means we have to get him a great gift when he comes back. And we definitely should call him later. Just not now, because you know, he's in holidays and hopefully getting some sleep for once in."
SunTzu was back in the torture chamber where Dischna was having her way on him with a leather whip. For the first few hits SunTzu tried to pull through and even made an attempt to resist.
"Hey Dischna, I think you forgot to tell me the safe word." He mocked her, which made his torturer loose her composure and flail him with the whip like crazy and so, while the torture device whizzed back and forth countless times and ripped open the skin of his back, SunTzu fell unconscious again.
He was back at his apartment and had just laid down on his sofa, enjoying his coffee when it rang again.
A loud sigh later he was back on his feet and opened the door again.
Only to find three beaming Inner Senshi, Ami, Minako and Makoto, grinning at him, untransformed of course.
Makoto, who was in the middle held up a delicious looking apple cherry pie.
"Happy Birthday,SunTzu!" The three Magical Women greeted him and before he could react, Minako was already hugging him.
"Hey Girls." SunTzu couldn't do other than smile, while the blonde still clinged onto him.
"Why you don't come in. For a piece of cake and a coffee?"
A few moments and hugs from all of them later they were sitting around his living room table and enjoyed a piece of the ridiculously good tasting pie Makoto had baked.
SunTzu was about to get a second piece while they were talking how things were going when it rang again. After putting his table on the kitchen counter he excused himself to the girls and headed to the door.
When SunTzu gained his consciousness again a soldier, apparently a medic, was treating his back with Bacta and also applied some painkillers and medication to him. SunTzu soon learned that this wasn't an act of goodwill or humanity.
"Patch him up already, the Queen wants him at her quarters."
After he had been halfway patched up, SunTzu was brought into a refresher and told to clean himself up.
Near the shower lay an outfit, something exalted, and he was told to dress up.
Hand in restraints he then was escorted through half the ship, it took long minutes and SunTzu noticed that he seemed to had gotten stim-shots as well, because he felt way more awake and energetic.
He was lead inside a large cabin onboard, a high class living quarter.
In the middle of the central room of the quarters was a large dinner table, decorated with food worth a royal banquet and on it's end, dressed in a dress worthy of a princess, sat a widely grinning Anniten, legs crossed, one of them whipping up and down while she was drinking red wine.
"SunTzu. Glad you could make it." She said as SunTzu was placed on a chair at the opposite side of the table and his hands restrained behind his back.
"This banquet is just in your honor. Happy Birthday again." Anniten announced further and then toasted to him before she emptied the glass, which still had been half filled.
"Please, help yourself." She said and motioned to the rich banquet.
SunTzu glared at her, his mind still too clouded to decide with which slur to hit her first.
"Oh, don't be so mad. Isn't there a saying on your planet? All is fair in love and war."
"Why you don't just shoot me?" SunTzu finally spoke out.
After that the woman he had shared his bed with in the last few weeks got up and walked around the table over to him.
"You know, for hurting my brother I should do so, but the way you look, I just don't have the heart to do it. You look so much like him. And unfortunately he also wouldn't allow me to."
She arrived next to him and grabbed his face in between her hands.
Aggressively she planted a kiss on his lips, not caring that SunTzu was trying to avoid it, her gloved hands keeping his face where she wanted it in his weakened state.
After the kiss she looked him deep in the eyes with a grin, hands still around his face
"You know. I really could have fallen in love with you." She pushed his face away and than turned around again and walked back to her seat. "But he was here before you." She said while she sat down again.
"What the hell you're talking about you crazy bitch?"
Anniten grinned at him, her face resting on one of her hands like she was pining for him before she raised it and answered.
"Babe, is that a way to talk to his girlfriend?" She laughed and poured herself another glass of red wine.
"I'm talking about the Herald of Chaos. Don't worry, you will meet him soon."
She took a sip from her glass.
"I know it's like something a villain from a holo drama would do…" She snorted out in laughter, apparently the wine was beginning to work. "…but since there's no way you'll ever get out of here, I guess it's just okay to give you some insight."
"Never get out? Wait till my friends find out about this."
Anniten broke into loud laughter.
"I think you don't really understand what's going on, SunTzu. There's no way someone will save you here."
She motioned to one of the guard who where standing in the corners of the room.
Two of the guards appeared at SunTzu's side and yanked him up before they lead him to follow Anniten. Behind the guards Dischna was following along as well, her eyes trained on SunTzu, ready to immediately strike at him if he would try something.
Anniten lead the group into a neighboring room, a lounge with a large observation window and a settee to apparently lay down on at, to have a look out the window.
Outside lay the small but terrestrial looking planet of Linta and in front of it were five Star Destroyers. It seemed that around the planets enormous shipyards were in the process of being been built at the moment.
Anniten stopped in front of the window.
"Guards, leave us alone." She ordered and the guards left with brisk steps, leaving only Anniten, SunTzu and Dischna, who was standing behind SunTzu and still ready to pounce onto him like a big cat onto her prey.
Anniten motioned outside to the window where she was looking through.
"You're onboard a Executor-Class Super Star Destroyer and surrounded by an armada of twenty five Star Destroyers. And soon we will beginn to build more ships at the shipyards." She turned around with a smug grin.
"And there's more. I heard one of the Jedi you frequently have contact with is Kyp Durron. So I guess you're familiar with Resonance Torpedoes, the weapons that destroyed the Carida-System." She fell quiet for a moment, producing a dramatic pause. "We got two of them ready to be used on this ship. I can guarantee that your whole pittyful Galactic Alliance doesn't have a fleet big enough to spare without loosing further territory to rescue you."
For a moment SunTzu just stared at her. He had so many questions, from why they had these weapons of mass destruction to where this fleet had come from but there was one standing out.
"Why? Why, Anniten?"
She grinned at him, and SunTzu couldn't help but to feel that she had become insane more and more.
With a shrug she answered.
"He gave me the confidence and strength to become the queen of this planet. Gifted me one of the most powerful fleets in the Galaxy. Gave me charge of his most important weapons project. And now that I captured you, he will be so grateful that he will make me his queen."
"Okay, now I'm sure that you lost your mind."
Her smug grin vanished and transformed into a glare. But before SunTzu could say anything more, Dischna's hand already hit his carotid in a chopping move and made him fall unconscious.
He reached the door and opened it and in astonishment tumbled back a step as he saw who was at the door.
He needed a second to collect himself again and then cleared his throat while he bowed down.
"Your Majesties. What a honor."
In front of him was the Royal Family, and next to them were Helios and the Mau.
"C'mon Lancelot. It's your birthday and we're between us. Don't be so stiff." Usagi told him with a grin.
Mamoru glanced over to his wife. "Mind if we come in?"
SunTzu stepped to the side and they stepped inside where Chibiusa suddenly hugged him.
"Happy Birthday!" She yelled out friendly until her mother pulled her to the side to do the same. Diana was the next, drawing Awwws from every female in the apartment as she didn't even reach to his shoulders. Soon the young Mau was relieved by her mother.
Helios, Artemis and as last Mamoru gave him firm handshakes as they congratulated him.
"I know Makoto baked a cake for you. Is there something left?" Usagi asked full of curiosity and anticipation.
"Yeah sure, just give me a sec. Please take a seat somewhere in the meantime."
While everyone got a cup of coffee, or partly glasses of coffee, as SunTzu didn't had enough cups, he also served the rest of the cake.
Mamoru and Helios renounced their pieces in favor of their lovers though.
While they were sitting all over the completely occupied living room, parts of the Taskforce, mainly Captain Santos and his daughter Maria, Terra-Squadron and the other pilots, parts of the leadership, the Commandos as well as Karlena and the ground crew, with AICA playing Happy Birthday over her speaker in the background, all calling him up. Even Stinger Johnson congratulated him from the small gathering in AICA's hangar.
As soon as he had hung up, the Star Sheriffs called him, immediately followed by Masters Durron and Cilghal. As if they all had made a time table to congratulate him.
After the cake and coffee, his guests all said their goodbyes and left together.
Usagi was the last to leave his apartment.
"Think about staying on Earth again." She quietly told for his ears only as she gave him a hug.
And then they were gone and SunTzu was really hard thinking about to stay on Earth again, and get back to the Taskforce, while he was beyond happy to have seen and talked to so many of his friends. Even Rei had visited him.
He got back into the living room and started to clean up.
Wet coldness woke him up.
They had dropped a bucket full of water, with ice floating in it, onto him, and SunTzu woke up on the floor of his cell again.
"Get up, you piece of shit. The queen wants to see you."
On Earth, or more specific, the buildings of Crystal Palace, Ami was sitting inside her office, eyebrows burrowed. It was early afternoon and she still couldn't reach SunTzu to congratulate him to his birthday. She knew he was with his girlfriend, but still she found it strange for him to not be available via communicator on his birthday.
She was thinking about to send a text message into the Senshi's group asking if anybody had gotten a message back yet. She sent a message each to Hotaru, Michiru and Minako, asking if they had heard something from him. In a matter of minutes they all had answered. None of them had heard from him as well. Probably he was busy enjoying his birthday with his girlfriend. He would answer back soon enough, the two older Senshi wrote.
Ami still found it wrong and decided to call Ada.
Three minutes later she hung up again. Not even Ada had heard something from him, but wasn't exactly worried either. You know how young lovers are, she had said with a small laughter. But Ami's eyebrows furrowed again, even more than before, after she had ended the call.
She pulled her computer's keyboard closer and began to check on the Info available on Linta and it's rulers.
SunTzu had been brought to the magazine of one of the warhead launchers on board of the Super Star Destroyer.
At least a full squad of armed and armored guards, on top to Dischna and the guards that escorted him here, were watching his every step.
Next to the the launcher stood Anniten and an officer.
"SunTzu. Did you had a nice nap?"
SunTzu answered with a dark glare and she shrugged again, smiling.
"Come here. I want to show you something."
SunTzu was lead forward and stopped next to Anniten.
"Major, if you'd be so kind." She motioned to the Officer next to her with a nod.
The officer opened the modified warhead launcher and two different than usual looking warheads became visible in the magazine of the weapon.
"So you see, I was not bluffing. Resonance Torpedoes. Ready to trigger a chain reaction in any solar star and make them go into a supernova. Cool, huh?"
She told him as she was describing her latest fashion item to him.
SunTzu swallowed down another rant, she obviously was insane, this was definitely not cool. It was a weapon that could obliterate a whole star system.
"Those Imps shouldn't have manufactured them in the Maw. Abeloth was able to read the mind of one of the researchers there, even though she was incarcerated. Full scale production on Linta will commence soon, the needed researchers are already on the planet. And then we will be unstoppable. If a System, no matter which one, will not capitulate, we'll just destroy it." She clapped into her hands and smiled before she turned back to SunTzu who just slowly shook his head. He was enraged with himself, that he couldn't sense her betrayal before.
How could I fall in love with such a lunatic bitch?
Because of his silence, Anniten assumed SunTzu finally was beginning to break.
She placed a hand on his chest, her fingers traveling down playfully before she leaned in to his ears, the guards and Dischna ready to shoot him in the blink of a second.
"If you admit your defeat and swear your allegiance to me right now, I'll have mercy on you and stop the torturing." Her hand glided further down and now grabbed him between the legs.
"You know, since it's your birthday I'd still let you hit it tonight if you become my servant." She pulled back and looked into his face. SunTzu began to grin and this made Anniten smile as well. She was sure after all the torture she had broken him.
SunTzu looked around a second and then motioned her to lean in again.
The guards raised their weapons but Anniten motioned them to put their guns down, although she took a step closer to her queen.
"Your offer sounds interesting. But no. And by the way, that night after the club, I imagined I was fucking Minako when I did you, that's why I came so hard."
Her smile immediately evaporated and her face turned red in anger.
SunTzu was still grinning when Anniten's knee hit his stomach and Dischna followed up immediately with a stun shot.
On Coruscant the Galactic Senator of Earth was in her office, is was late afternoon.
Rei was looking out of the large window of her office onto the skyline of the Senate District while fingers nervously drummed on the plate of her table.
Finally she grabbed her mobile phone and began to dial a number she hadn't dialed in months.
It's really just to congratulate him to his birthday day and check on him. That's all!
A second later she hung up again. Apparently SunTzu's mobile phone was shut off.
The Royals and the three Inners just had left and he was still cleaning when SunTzu's door rang again. Who could it be this time? Maybe the Outers? Or had Usagi forgot something?
He walked back to the door and opened it.
To his surprise it wasn't the Outer Senshi. It were Ada and Leon.
With a smirk the Intelligence Officer said hi and then the couple congratulated him.
He asked them to come inside.
"The girls brought me cake but unfortunately it's all gone. But I could offer at least coffee."
"Coffee is absolutely fine. We don't have much time anyways."
SunTzu prepared two coffee, he took a break from drinking coffee himself, another cup and he probably wouldn't sleep for the whole next week. Not to mention that his coffee powder was pretty much done for after today.
Soon he served the coffee and the trio talked a bit. Ada and Leon were here for a visit in the Palace, Intelligence Office, of course. In between, as if she knew, who was there, he recieved a text message from Yumeko, she congratulated him and told him if he would be on Coruscant she would have had a gift he could unwrap tonight to which he had to smile. Typical her.
It wasn't long until they had finished their coffee and got ready to leave. Just as they had said their goodbyes, the doorbell rang again.
SunTzu opened the doors and was greeted by two joyfully smiling Outer Senshi, Haruka's signature smirk and another half, but at least friendly, smile.
Hotaru and Michiru sang Happy Birthday for him and then they pounced onto him.
Haruka gave him a bear hug and whispered the into his ear that she just wished him the best and that she was glad to have him.
Even Setsuna gave him a hug. Somehow hugging the emerald-haired made his heart beat faster. Must have been the coffee, SunTzu thought.
The Outers and Ada and Leon greeted each other before the two Agents left.
"I wish I could offer you guys some coffee but since there already had been so many people here I ran out. Same goes for the cake."
"No problem about the cake. Haruka is on diet anyways." Michiru announced complacently which made Haruka burrow her frows and look at her. Michiru's reaction was planting a kiss on the pouting lips of her lover. "You got tea? Sencha, Matcha or Jasmine?" Michiru asked after the kiss.
"Sure. Let me brew you some."
The Outers settled down and soon were joined by SunTzu bringing the tea.
They talked about what was going on right now. Michiru had been having some concerts in Italy, Haruka had tagged along of course and had even spent a day in Monza, trying out the new Ferrari F1 2020 race car.
Setsuna was still working on perfecting her Bacta mixtures and Hotaru spent most of her time honeing her skills as warrior, be it at land or in space.
SunTzu had been happy to see and communicate with all his friends today but these four were the cherry on top. SunTzu's heart was filled with warmth when he looked at them. He was overjoyed to think about what he had found here. Even If he had lost Rei he still found what felt like a family with the three pilots in front of him. And Setsuna was… No, that thought was irrelevant.
"We need to go now." Hotaru tore him from his thoughts.
A few moments later they had said their goodbyes and left.
The three flying Senshi had told him to come fly with them soon but the last to actually leave the apartment was Setsuna.
The others were already outside when the tall woman stopped in the doorframe and turned around again. She looked at him with an austere look, her ruby eyes, who had seen probably everything in her timeless being, speaking of knowledge.
"SunTzu, no matter in which state you are and how dire things seem to be. Never give up." That said she and the other Outers were gone, just like they had vanished.
Mind numbing pain, beginning with a burning sensation in his arms and legs where the electricity entered his body and traveling all through every inch of his body ripped him out of his sleep.
"Good, he's finally awake again." SunTzu heard Dischna's voice through the clouded mist that his sensations were, his insides feeling like they were burning. If he only he could have tapped into the Force to gain energy and shut out the pain.
"Dress him up and bring him to the Queen's quarters."
SunTzu was put into fine clothing again and, still weak on his legs, brought back into Anniten's chambers.
Once again she was waiting at the table and he was we placed down at another festive table, full with the finest of foods. He wasn't restrained this time but there were enough guards around to stop him immediately if he would just make so much of a wrong move.
And on the other side of course was a flawless looking, beautifully dressed up Anniten. Only her smile wasn't as wide anymore.
The small success gave SunTzu a pinch of motivation to keep going. He even found the strength to smile
I'll make this as hard as I can for you…
"Loverboy. I'm glad you're smiling again, this is your birthday dinner after all." SunTzu stayed quiet but looked at her with all the smugness his exhausted body could manage to show.
"Still not talking?" Anniten shrugged. "Maybe some Champagne will loosen your tongue. Guard!"
A Guard came and filled a champagne flute in front of SunTzu.
The pilot still hadn't said a word.
"Please, drink and eat whatever and how much you want." She said to him and raised her glass, apparently waiting for him to do the same.
"Do you really think I'd share a meal with you? It makes me sick just to be in your vicinity."
"Getting sick of me or not, I am still the only one how can make the torture stop for you. I have to be honest, it hurts me to see you suffer. And not even because of him. Believe it or not, I do have feelings for you."
SunTzu pondered about if he was able to kill her before he would be shot himself while he gave her a dead stare that would make even Setsuna proud. The odds unfortunately spoke against him though.
"You don't believe me, but I really do." She shrugged with a side glance for a moment, clearing her throat. "How long do you think you can keep this up? The food and sleep deprivation, the pain, the suffering? Join us, and you will find a table like this for every meal if you desire. You'll sleep in the most comfortable of beds. What is it you want? Your own Star Destroyer? Your own continent on Linta? You can get everything you desire. Even me."
She shot him a seductive smile. "We are building the most important fleet yard for our cause here. You want a squadron of AICAs? I'll have them build for you."
SunTzu snorted while she looked at him questioningly. "What if I just want you to kill me?"
"This is the one thing I unfortunately cannot do. My master requires you alive. After all you are too important for his plans."
"What are his plans?"
"Oh please. Do you really think I'd tell you this? Just know that it's vision is brilliant, so brilliant that I devoted my life and my kingdom to him." She began to laugh, manically, her insane side showing again. "I even killed my parents so that I can gift my planet's workforce to him."
"Like I said, you are crazy!"
"Crazy?" Anniten laughed again. "I'm not crazy. I'm brilliant as my master. With his and Abeloth's help I turned every Inhabitant of Linta into a loyal servant and a non-stoping workforce. I think you met a few of them on Coruscant."
A cold shiver ran down SunTzu's back, did she mean those Daimons?
"That's right, these black vessels for souls. I made every Lintian except me and Dischna into one. And now they can work without a break, without ever needing sleep. They will build a enormous fleet in record speed. And with every planet we conquer we get more of these vessels."
SunTzu shook his head.
"I'm going to stop you. Even if it's the last thing I do."
Anniten laughed again.
"Always so stubborn. Do you really think you there's any way you could do so?" Yet another laughter. "You're probably already wondering why you can't tap in the Force, aren't you? Abeloth is blocking you to do so. She has been doing this for quite some time now. Ain't no way you can break her grip on you."
That revelation shocked SunTzu, but that at least meant that he wasn't the problem. And it explained a few things, like the feeling he had at Qat Chrystac before he saved Taskforce Sol.
Nevertheless made it grow his anger more.
"Don't worry you insane whore. I'll find a moment where I can kill you just with my bare hands." SunTzu stated cold and objectively, while staring right into Anniten's eyes.
For a moment he saw a glint of fear In his former girlfriend's eyes and he began to smirk.
Anniten had to swallow hard to win her composure back.
Then she got up, nodding to the Guards, finally her constraint broke.
"Do you really think you're in any position to threaten me!" She yelled while four guards shot towards SunTzu and held him in place. "If you want to learn it the kriffin' hard way, so be it."
She grabbed the bottle of champagne and a table napkin.
While the guards pressed him on the chair and pulled his head up, she put the napkin on his face and then began to pour champagne onto it, effectively waterboarding him with it.
"Stubborn son of a bitch! I'll make you fear me!" She yelled out while she poured out more of the expensive liquid on the napkin over his face, while the sensation of drowning shot through SunTzu.
It was late evening on Earth and Ami was still in her office. Nobody she had talked to had heard from SunTzu yet. And he still wasn't reachable.
Something was off, she knew it but she couldn't grasp it yet. Maybe Rei would have sensed something but obviously there was no way she could ask her.
Maybe she should ask Michiru or Hotaru?
Ami had spent the last few hours checking through data about Linta.
And after hours she had find one small, easy to be overlooked detail, which sparked her attention. Every ship that flew to or away from the system was Lintan. This was very strange and uncommon. Along with the fact, that one needed to pass a field with ion-storms to get there, somehow made it feel like Linta wanted to hide something.
Ami hacked into her keyboard, this information needed to go up to Ada.
SunTzu looked at the now closed apartment door for at least a minute. Never give up Setsuna had said. And somehow it felt like it was the most important thing someone had ever said to him. More important than knowing about his past. More important than every lover's or loyality oath. More important than his life.
A knock on the door tore him out of his thoughts.
What strange coincidence, that he still was standing here and there was a knock and not a ringing of the bell.
SunTzu opened the door and looked into two faces he hadn't seen for way too long.
"Hello Handsome." Gistess greeted him, standing next to Marvin.
"What… how… how is that possible?" SunTzu stammered out.
"Listen my friend, we don't have much time." Marvin told him.
"You have to withstand them. If you fall, the Galaxy falls." Gistess continued.
"Don't give up. You can free yourself. And get back to where you belong." It was Marvin again. "We have to leave again. Push through it. Like back then you're still not aware of what you are really are capable of."
Then, after a pat on SunTzu's shoulder, he made room for Gistess.
"I know you got this. Let them pay for Marvin, me and everyone else they have on their conscience.
Gistess got on her tiptoes and then leaned forward. She gently kissed his forehead.
"And now you have to wake up, Handsome."
SunTzu awoke to the feeling that his insides were melting. The pain was more intense than ever before and the stinging, painful sensation of the electro shocks brought him back into a woke state immediately. The pain was so unbearable that he couldn't even scream.
After being champagneboarded at the dinner table someone had knocked him out with a taser and now he was back in the torture Chamber. And if SunTzu thought they had went relentless and hard on him before he had been disabused now.
Smoke was still emitting from his body and for a moment he was not sure if he would survive this.
For a few seconds they just left him hanging there while SunTzu tried to bring the pain under control.
He finally opened his eyes and noticed that only Anniten and Dischna were in the room.
"Maybe we should mount the cables to his private parts." Anniten casually told to her confident before she stepped forward and walked up to SunTzu.
He was still hanging down in the apparatus, each limb in large mounts where metal parts led the electricity through the victim while there was heavy ceramic around the metallic parts.
SunTzu's face was just a few centimeters away from Anniten's.
"Learned your lesson now not to try me?"
SunTzu had even problems looking at her, his skin still felt like it was burning and sweat was running over his face.
"Too bad the Herald will be here soon. I could get used to this. And who knows? If we put the cables to your genital maybe it will get hard enough that I can have some fun with you."
"Sick… bitch…" SunTzu stammered out with his last force. He was sure that he would pass out any minute again. But he hadn't forgotten his dream. Even If he wasn't able to do more he wouldn't give up. He would fight back.
A hand cupped his face and he expected a smack but instead her hand stroked over his beard before she leaned in.
"Those three million vessels are ready to built the ships and crew them. Production will start directly and as soon as you are in my master's custody I will take my fleet here and struck into the Galaxy."
With the Super Star Destroyer and it's amount of ships, even Death Squadron wasn't a match for this fleet. And with the Alliance's ships spread out on dozens of fronts, systems and places Anniten's fleet would plow it's way through the Galaxy.
Although he was beyond exhaustion, his whole body aching inside and outside and the pain fogging up his thinking SunTzu knew he had to do something.
But what can I do in this state?
Anniten noticed the slight reaction SunTzu's facial gesture had when she told him that her fleet would move out soon. She then took his head in both hands.
"I will take this fleet and waltz up into the Core Worlds. If I have to use the Resonance Torpedoes to get there so be it."
Her grip around his face strengthened while her voice became more stern and icy.
"I while take this fleet and invade the Sol-System." She began to smile evilish.
I have to do something… C'mon SunTzu... something!
And then he started to sense it, It was like an invisible hand was around him. He could feel the same eerie sensation he had when he and Rei clashed with Abeloth.
"I will turn your Earth into a wasteland of debris and death." Anniten's mouth was just centimeters from his.
Although at the end of his limits he felt how panic and rage were coming up inside him. Anniten was so out of her mind that this wasn't a threat. Her tone alone told how serious she was.
"I will make sure you watch, while I let this ship rain death on it."
Despair doesn't help, I have to get out of here and stop her.
While his anger and fears, as well as his will to fight back and protect the people he loved grew, he tried to channel them, at least to fight against Abeloth's grip around his Force-dwelling. He had freed himself before from her mental grip once, maybe he could do it again.
Anniten's nails were now painfully clawing into his face.
"I will make sure to kill all those Senshi Harlots. And I will start with that blonde bitch Aino."
She stared into his eyes, and SunTzu could see again how far she was gone.
I… will… not… permit that… Fight against it SunTzu… Fight!
SunTzu was now channeling all his pain, his misery, his anger and the concern for his friends into his connection with the Force, trying combining all the sensations to gain strength.
"I will stick their heads on poles and let them rot there."
With a push she let his head go and turned around, walking a few steps backward and then facing him again.
"It will be your fault. Because you couldn't let go. Because you wouldn't join us. You'll be the reason I'll kill them."
Hearing this and the insight that she would destroy Earth and kill his friends just because of him was the final thing that made him focus his emotions enough to finally break the grip Abeloth had on his connection to the Force. SunTzu closed his eyes and channeled his powers.
If it was like an invisible grip, SunTzu's breaking of it was shattering that gripping hand's fingers and metacarpus. It felt like he could hear the Entity's scream out of pain through the Force.
This is the payback for Rei!
Apart from breaking the entity's grip SunTzu's will began to also actively draw the Force from her.
"Anniten." SunTzu said with a severe voice, his eyes still closed. "You need to stop."
She laughed out loud. "I don't think you're in a position to demand anything."
"I said stop it."
The Queen of Linta looked back to Dischna who was behind her on her left side.
"I think he needs more electric shocks."
"Please Anniten, don't make me do that."
"Do what? Look at you, you're at your limit, SunTzu. And you'll finally and completely break when I let you watch me killing the Sailor Guardians. Shock him Dischna."
Dischna took a step forward and was about to walk to the apparatus's control.
"I have to stop you."
SunTzu channeled the Force through him, he never felt more powerful. And he was determined to stop Anniten and this fleet and to save his friends.
His eyes flung open, glowing yellow.
"Shock him!" Anniten yelled out but in that moment one of the heavy discus shaped mounts ripped from the torture apparatus and smashed right into Dischna's skull, cracking it and killing her instantly.
Using the Force SunTzu freed himself from the mounts of the torture machine.
A shocked looking Anniten yelped and then ran away in panic.
She ran out of the room and when the Guards outside immediately stormed inward but, weapons drawn.
The Guards entering started shooting immediately, but SunTzu, just dressed in pants, deflected the shots with the Force, all while he slowly walked forward, his eyes glowing yellow.
I have to stop all of them…
Anniten kept running, what she had seen in SunTzu's eyes had shocked her to the core. She was sure he would kill her.
More and more guards kept rushing in but the young ruler already knew it was futile.
SunTzu used the Force to crush the necks of the first group of guards who had stormed in. He needed to stop them all but in a more effective way. While another large group of guards prepared to storm into the room SunTzu closed his eyes again and concentrated.
Anniten wasn't even sure where she was fleeing to when something around her happened. It was as if SunTzu was suddenly everywhere. And he was killing everyone around her. Crewers, soldiers, officers, it was like he had multiplied and was everywhere at once now.
He killed all of them with his bare hands, breaking their necks as he suddenly had appeared every- and anywhere at once.
Anniten began to scream and tears began to flow while she run away as fast as she could.
SunTzu stood up again and began to make his way out of the torture chamber, his eyes still glowing yellow. The only thing that mattered now, was to stop this fleet, these daimons and the construction of the fleet yard. To protect the Galaxy and to save his friends. SunTzu was determined to do whatever was necessary.
No matter in which corridor she came, everybody she stumbled upon was dead already, but Anniten ran on, instinctively heading for her quarters.
SunTzu had moved to the bridge, it was almost in an instant he got here and the way it felt it was as he was moving with the wind.
Around him lay the dead bridge crew.
He walked up to one of the consoles and checked what the ship had available as weaponery.
He smiled when he saw that the Super Star Destroyer was equipped with Gravity Well Generators. And then something else catched his attention. The Resonance Torpedoes were loaded.
Anniten arrived in her quarters and rushed further to her observation chamber.
On the way she had managed to sent a message to a certain man. He surely would come and save her. She was a hundred percent sure of it. She was too important to him to let her die.
The Queen of Linta had entered the room and was desperately trying to think of what to do next when suddenly two small shapes rushed into view, leaving the ship.
She immediately knew what those warheads were and the realization what would happen soon broke her completely.
Anniten fell to her knees, as she saw the two Resonance Torpedoes making their way into the sun of the System. The Torpedos they had produced here had been advanced and more refined than the one built at the Maw Installation. It didn't took hours for a sun to go supernova anymore, just mere minutes.
In a few moments her system, her fleet and her planet would be gone. Her head slumped down, how could it had come to this, she had everything under control, SunTzu almost had been broken.
SunTzu had activated the shields and automatic defensive weapons of the ship. Some of the other ships of the fleet would probably try to destroy the Gravity Well Generators so they could flee the inevitable destruction of the whole system. But even the combined might of the other twenty four ships of the fleet wouldn't be enough to get out of the system in time.
From the bridge window he observed how the first ships maneuvered, some to attack, others to get away.
Through the Force he could sense the absolute fear the crews in the ships were feeling. And he also could sense the numb, simple minds of the daimons, mindless drones, down at the planet and the shipwrights.
And SunTzu sensed the single surviving soul on the ship. The one he had spared. While the first Impstar outside opened fire on the Executor-Class he left the bridge.
Tears in her eyes and still slumped on the ground Anniten had observed how the two torpedoes had hit the sun of the system and now she could see how the sun was already reacting.
Immense sun storms were visible on it's surface and then she had to turn away for a moment as it begun and it became to bright to look into the expanding sun.
"You made me do this." She heard a voice behind her. She watched on in a moment as the sun's fire began to expand and consume everything in it's way. At most the Linta System just was a few minutes away from being obliterated.
"You still won't stop him." She replied and then turned around to him, her voice way stronger than her appearance. "He's too strong."
SunTzu was in front of her now and looked down at her, while she sat up in front of him and looked to the ground.
"I wish It wouldn't have come to this." A pause followed but then Anniten looked up and into SunTzu's eyes and his hazel eyes, not glowing yellow anymore but with a yellow ring around his iris, and her light blue eyes locked. He saw a mixture of fear, anger and regret in them but not the insanity he had seen before. He hadn't broken and she knew it.
"I was honest when I said I could have loved you. But it's too late for that now."
"It is."
Outside the wall of fire and heat was slowly expanding, although it were various thousand kilometers in the second, as SunTzu kneeled down.
"I wished things would have been different."
He kissed Anniten's forehead a last time. Both had their eyes closed and Anniten's lip gave away the hint of a soft smile.
SunTzun slowly dematerialized while the kiss lingered on her forehead.
Anniten waited until SunTzu was completely gone, savoring all that he was for a last moment, and then turned to the window again. While outside four Star Destroyer desperately tried to knock the larger ship's shields down and somehow destroy the machine that prevented their escape the Queen of Linta observed how the fires of the sun of the system had almost reached her planet.
Suddenly she felt another someone behind her.
Anniten turned around, tears in her eyes again, jumping up from the floor.
"You came!" She fell into the man's arms. A man that just looked like SunTzu.
"Princess." He put his arms on her shoulders, not reciprocating the embrace while behind her Linta was swallowed by the expanding sun.
"You're here to save me." She looked up to him. "Because we belong together."
A pause followed while his cold, darkness filled eyes stung down into her soul.
"Even after I saved your brother, you failed." SunTzu's doppelgänger replied coldly.
Anniten collapsed, slid down his body and landed on her knees again, as she understood now.
And then the Herald of Chaos took her face in his hands and leaned down.
"At least you don't have to life with this shame much longer. Here's my last gift."
His lips met hers, a kiss of death, and as he took a step back from her, tears began to flow freely down her cheeks.
"I could have loved you, Princess. If you wouldn't have failed me."
That said he began to dematerialize just like SunTzu as well. It surely was unfortunate that SunTzu could free himself of Abeloth's grip on his Force-connection and loosing such a fleet, especially the super weapons and the means to produce them as well, were a harsh setback but SunTzu had finally showed his real potential and what he was capable of. The next weeks sure would become interesting when the Alliance had to deal with the aftermath of all this.
Through tears Anniten saw that the Herald smiled as he left. And while behind her the fire engulfed her fleet tears fell to the floor as she sobbed on all fours. All she had been for the man she had loved with everything of her being, the man she had done everything for, was a pawn. A chess piece in his game. As the supernova hit the ship her last thoughts were regret and the hope that SunTzu would save the Galaxy.
I'm sorry SunTzu…