Second Platoon, Delta Company, Third Battalion of Task Force Sol had been earmarked as one of those platoons who would take over rear security when it had been created. That had been changed when Artemis had ruled, that SunTzu would lead the platoon.

And now, after their victory against an overwhelming enemy force in the jungles of , Second Platoon, dubbed the "Tree Shredders" by the rest of the Taskforce, was classified as one of the most competent platoons in the whole Taskforce.

Some of the soldier's had been hit by blaster shots, nothing life-threatening though, and had been even asked if they wanted to leave the frontline unit but all of them had declined and two days later, only one soldier had needed a thirty hours in a Bacta tank, the platoon was complete again.

They had been spared for missions for these two days, but not slacking as they were busy restocking on supplies and ammos, maintaining and exchanging their weapons and gear and in SunTzu's case also with writing recommendations for promotions and distinctions. There would be more awards needed to properly praise those fine young warriors than just a couple of Star Hearts.

So, in the early noon two days after their successful jungle fight, the platoon was back on training together and their platoon leader was running in front of them, making the cantor as all forty three platoon members sang Barbie Girl while they jogged around Camp Whitefeather.

The Marines and Delta Company had developed a bond of friendship and both respected each other's abilities as aggressive warriors, which lead to a lot of US-Marines greeting the platoon, often even with a Oorah, an USMC-Battle Cry usually reserved for Marines only.

The bond was tightened even more as Sol- and Marine-Units had begun to go out together on patrol as did Second Platoon with a Platoon of the Expeditionary Unit right after lunch.

To get to their patrol area, the two platoons were flown to their patrol areas and began their search for any enemy activity.

But it only seemed that things got back to the usual quiet day activities for Second Platoon, as Ami and Royal Intelligence actually had gained lots of information about the enemy on the planet, it's strength and it's structures from the few prisoners that had been taken in the battle. One of them was the second-in-command of the supply base and he was a gold mine for information after a little bit of psychological workings on him. The promise of a warm meal three times a day and sleeping in warm bed in a governmental prison had it's allure, especially if the other alternative to not cooperate could have been execution.

The two platoons had been out in the jungle for just half an hour when Command radioed in and ordered them back to the landing zone, another platoon was ordered to take over their patrol.

A bunch of dropships landed in the landing zone and the other platoon disembarked as SunTzu and the others made their way over.

To SunTzu's surprise Ami, wearing combat fatigues and a field cap, was waiting in the open door of one of the dropships.

Her face stern, she waved SunTzu over and the pilot turned infantry leader knew that this meant something very important was going on.

He ran over to Ami and stopped right next to her in the open door.

"Ames, what's going on?"

"New mission, i'll brief you in the air."

SunTzu nodded and turned around. He activated his radio and told the platoon to board in double time.

The two platoons were flown to one of the coasts of the planet, where already other units of the Taskforce were staging up.

While relocating Ami briefed SunTzu on the next mission.

The enemy, or more specific General Phyncx's troops were using ancient jungle temples, built hundreds of years ago by the Morodin. As the Morodin were huge creatures, some of these temples were gigantic.

Because of the willingness to cooperate Intelligence had gotten to know the rough coordinates to one of these and immediately an offensive had been rolled out.

The temple was located in the middle of the jungle, too thick vegetation for most of the vehicles but at least the vegetation above wasn't as lush as above the base Second Platoon had attacked two days ago. Nevertheless it had been ruled that the temple would be attacked by infantry and not just leveled with air- and artillery strikes as it was crucible to gain more informations about their enemies and other installations on the planet.

Second Platoon would reinforce a company of First Battalion, who would attack from the east, according to the Intel the captured enemy officer had given, the guardroom which also handled the automated defenses was located there.

When the dropships landed, SunTzu and Ami immediately went over to the small field headquarters which had been built near the landing zone.

On the way there SunTzu could see that Lance Corporal Davies ran up to another soldier with a huge grin and they hugged.

It took a moment before he recognized the soldier again, but that was her brother, the EOD-Specialist he finally noticed.

Thirty minutes later around 400 soldiers from the Taskforce and the accompanying USMC-Complement headed out in the jungle.

Another twenty minutes later, Delta-Two was moving in front of the Alpha-Company of First Battalion into the jungle, they could make out the towers of the temple a few hundred meters away.

The soldiers begun to spread out and got ready for combat, while Ortiz carefuly lead them on, eyes and ears open for any signs of enemies. SunTzu sensed out with the Force as well but he still struggled with all the life in the forest to proper sense out individuals, at least the ones he didn't know. His platoon though, he could distinguish all of them by now. From the sometimes flaring up nervousness in Davies over Elrod's everlasting aggressiveness to Sato's calm demeanor. He also got an insight into the interpersonal feelings between these young individuals which of course he kept to himself. Other commanders wouldn't have liked it, but he knew firsthand that a little bit of love could make you a better warrior.

SunTzu was still busy trying to sense out any dangers when suddenly gunfire began to be audible in the distance.

"Looks like Alpha found the enemy." Sergeant Kruger mentioned, next to SunTzu and Lance Corporal Davies.

SunTzu wheezed and then activated his radio with pressing a button on his push-to-talk-device on the chest of his plate carrier.

"Gunny, we're accelerating our advance, maybe Alpha being in contact makes them less alert on their East."

Just a few minutes later SunTzu had gotten the confirmation that Phyncx's troops weren't any less alert on the eastern flank as a remote controlled weapon station opened fire on the first squad and Ortiz and forced them into cover.

SunTzu immediately ran up to the front and dropped into the small ditch his soldiers had found cover in.

He landed next to Staff Sergeant Singer, the Squadleader of Second Platoon's First Squad.

"Isn't it a bit too early into the offensive to take a break already, Sergeant?" SunTzu stated as he ducked his head while laser fire raked the bump behind them, making the air smell like ozone.

"Would have marched on but the owners of that place seem to have a problem with that."

SunTzu took a small glance out of cover and ducked back down again.

"Any ideas how to take that thing out?"

"Since we're not allowed to level that place, nothing that wouldn't jeopardize someone's life."

This moment another someone landed next to SunTzu, it was Gunny Ortiz.

"Sir, I finished trying to look for a possibility to flank. I'll keep it short, only way to get inside there is where that pesky laser is shooting from."

"Superb. Am I the only one that would have preferred to just to hike a bit through the jungle like we had originally planned?"

SunTzu looked up and down the lines of soldiers in cover, while over them the laser cannon diligently raked purple beams into the ditch and the forest where the soldiers cowered.

And then it hit him.

"Did anyone see what kind of emplacement that is?"

"Looked like a Blastech R-200 equipped with a Taim&Bak LX-2." PFC Neumann replied, yelling over the incoming staccato of laser fire.

"Any idea, what kind of sensors they use?"

"Sir, as far as i remember, they use optical ones, infrared."

That was enough SunTzu needed to know, immediately he activated his radio again.

"Sato, we need the Carl Gustav over here, loaded with Illumination Rounds. Shot them directly at the laser but don't get too close to it." And then SunTzu turned to the soldiers in the ditch.

"As soon as they blinded the sensor, light that fucking thing up with the AT-4s and LAWs!"

Not even a minute later, a rocket shot out from the jungle right onto the laser gun and the missile bursted into a bright shining magnesium flare. The laser stopped it's shooting and three seconds later, two rockets fired by soldiers inside the ditch followed, destroying the gun.

"Here we go." SunTzu announced and the soldiers jumped out of the ditch and began to run towards the temple, throwing smoke grenades to cover their advance.

Explosive handgrenades were thrown into the entrance in front of them, right as the first enemies soldiers made their way out of it, making quick work of them. And then the platoon stormed inside, covering all angles and using plenty of suppressive fire.

The enemy hadn't expected a group of soldiers to overcome their laser-weapon which had been created to exactly defend installations from assaults of infantry groups and light vehicles and with a mix of aggression and speed Second Platoon had created a bridgehead through which First Battalion's Alpha-Company followed and Delta-Two stormed further forward, lead by their platoon commander who advanced forward next to his soldiers with his activated light saber in one hand and a pistol in the other.

Just minutes later it was over, hand grenades and thermal detonators made quick work of enemies in rooms and behind covers and when the guardroom fell, Alpha was able to fall into the rear of the enemies which were fighting Bravo at the front of the temple.

Both Alpha- and Bravo-Companies had some casualties, but the worst injury Delta-Two had to suffer was a small cut from some shrapnel. To that effect, two large battles won without a single KIA, the mood in the platoon was sublime.

A feeling of invincibility began to befall the platoon and the whole platoon was merrily chanting songs on the way back to the landing zone.

The whole platoon was commended from the commanders as well as Major Urawa at the scene and a lot of soldiers from Bravo-Company came over and thanked SunTzu's soldiers for their good work opening up the eastern flank.

Second Platoon's reputation had been enhanced even more and the young men and women in the platoon felt like they could take on everything when they boarded the dropships back to the Eternal and Camp Whitefeather.

As soon as they got back to base, the Platoon, except for SunTzu who went to a debriefing with Major Andersen and Captain Watanabe, was allowed to get some chow in the mess onboard the Eternal. As distinction for making sure that Alpha and Bravo weren't just hammered down in their positions they were even allowed a can of beer each and the platoon had kind a small party afterwards in their quarters. To not disturb them, their Platoon Leader left them on their own that evening and rather went to his quarters after having a meal in the officer's mess near the bridge, unfortunately none of his friends had been there. After a shower SunTzu showed his gratitude that all of his soldiers had made it with a meditation session. He really had neglected his training in the Force lately and he asked himself if he would have distinguished more between all these lifeforms in the jungle he had felt today and the last days if he had been training more. SunTzu didn't celebrate but he awarded himself with an hour more of sleep that night, after all it were the simple things in life.

The next day came and while Intelligence was busy evaluating the Intel they could secure, Delta-Two was off to their regular patrols again. After over two weeks on Varonat and countless patrols, as well as some battles and skirmishes, in the green-yellow hell that Varonat's jungle was, one would have thought that the platoon's mood would have been at an all time-low but it was quite the contrary, even Animal wasn't bitching for once. Everyone was concentrated and focused on his tasks but also content. The area they were patrolling was pretty close to the Eternal and Edgefields-on-Varonat and it was pretty sure that there were no more enemies around, since the Taskforce's last few victories. Nonetheless it was better to be safe than sorry and so everyone still had it's guard up.

The time on Varonat had made Second Platoon seasoned already and they definitely weren't ranking behind the units that had been in combat before.

SunTzu, Rhian Davies walking next to him, was chaffing around with some of his soldiers, like Animal, carrying his MG3 on his shoulders, Zoro, Weebs and others, while the non-commissioned soldiers were talking about their favorite piece of Japanese Media.

Out of his eyes SunTzu could notice that apart from Lopez and Blanchet, there also seemed to be a new love affair in the platoon with Nika and Private Tohu, the platoon's own Māori Warrior.

SunTzu felt good, it was nice to see that they had all grown together and become an unit, a well greased machine where everyone could depend on the other. He was proud, and as he looked to his front where Gunny Ortiz was leading Ramirez's fireteam with Lance Corporal Evans using his superior eyesight and Staff Sergeant Singer and the rest of First Squad close by. Even the Gunny seemed to be less grumpy and had a smallest hint of a smile on his lips as the Colombian NCO observed how well the soldiers had learned tracking in the jungle from him.

The patrols had become longer but the platoon didn't mind anymore, they had somewhat accustomed to the jungle and it's attributes.

And a jungle planet at least wasn't an ice planet, not too mention that the Eternal was one hell of a comfortable base, not like the muggy tents of the Marines at Camp Whitefeather.

It still was war, the Galactic Alliance was still on the risk of loosing, the task was still life-threatening, but for Second Platoon life could have been definitely worse.

Not too mention that after they would leave the planet, all that seemed to be left to take care of was the main base of Phyncx's troops and then reserve troops could take over. And the soldiers hoped that they would get some free time as it had been one of the longest deployments of the Taskforce yet. Maybe they wouldn't go home but at least they would get some leisure on a planet with fleet base or a space station. Maybe a nice exotic place where the usual Earthling wouldn't get to, that sure would make for some stories and good stories.

When one platoon of the Taskforce was motivated at this point, then it had been Delta-Two of Third Battalion.

But very much apart from his soldiers, SunTzu had felt strange when he went to bed that night after patrol. He couldn't tell what it was. He hadn't had any visions, or any foreboding, not that feeling he got when the Force tried to warn him of something. Maybe he should check in with Rei or Michiru or ask Master Cilghal for advice tomorrow in a free minute. Or maybe he was just not used to things not completely going down the drain for once and just had become kind of paranoid he finally thought to himself before he closed his eyes and the tiredness of the long day took over.

SunTzu couldn't help it, something was off today, but he couldn't help it. There was nothing warning him of impending danger but he still had a very bad feeling.

He got up, got ready and went to meet the platoon.

In his morning briefing, before they would move out for another small patrol through Edgefields-on-Varonat and the fields around, he reprimanded the platoon to stay on their toes but the patrol went smooth and more than quiet. The only thing that was off, was SunTzu himself and both the Gunny and Lance Corporal Davies asked him if he was okay, as he seemed to be so nervous. But everything was peaceful, beyond that. An elderly woman even handed some freshly culled fruits out to the platoon, SunTzu almost forbid it until some of the soldiers told that the old lady often handed out fruits.

Back in the base for lunch, SunTzu couldn't find anyone to ask if they had a premonition as Michiru was on a patrol with Haruka and Hotaru, Rei was in a meeting and Cilghal was busy in the med bay, and since he was pretty sure they would have told him if they had sensed anything by now he let it slip and decided to stop with this paranoia.

He had been eating lunch in the officer's mess and had almost finished when Major Andersen and Lieutenant Colonel Bernard came to his table. A recon flight seemed to have spotted some activity a few kilometers away from the Eternal, probably just a group of Morodin, but someone needed to check it out and Delta-Two seemed to be the right platoon for it.

At first SunTzu was skeptical, that damn paranoia, he just couldn't shake it, but when he saw how far out and away from any strategically important position the contact had been made, and in an area which had been patrolled on foot before as well, he didn't see a problem at all. Even if it was an enemy patrol and had to be very small to have not been properly identified in that area as the vegetation for once was less thick there.

After finishing his meal and getting the necessary Information from the Mission Command Center, SunTzu headed for the platoon's quarters and once again briefed his soldiers.

Twenty minutes later, Second Platoon was marching down the ramp of the Eternal and into Camp Whitefeather, heading straight for the Forward Operating Bases landing pads, where the Hueys already had begun their start preparations. The soldiers and Marines were all in a good mood and the choppers were playing music over their loudspeakers. SunTzu hadn't boarded yet, as he had made sure all the soldiers were properly strapped and also that the helicopters all had been thoroughly maintained and functioned without problems by talking with the pilots and the nearby ground crew.

In the fourth helicopter, Animal and some other soldiers were talking as they observed their platoon leader moving between the helicopters.

"Ey, what's wrong with the Cap today? He seems pretty tense."

"Probably superstition, big man thinks our lucky streak is over after we survived two large battles without casualties."

"Maybe it's the Force making him feel something. I heard they can see things before they happen."

"Good thing, he checked the choppers then."

"Maybe it's just the stress catching up. I mean, you heard the stories and rumors what he's been through."

"I think it's nice that he actually cares."

"Yeah, we could had it worse, a PL that doesn't give a fuck about us at all for example."

"Wait the fuck up! Did Animal just say something nice about someone?"

SunTzu finally made his way to his helicopter, which Meds, Rhian, Ortiz and a fireteam from second squad already had boarded.

Out of the helicopter's speakers boomed music and when SunTzu had put his first foot inside the troop compartment he looked around one last time, everything was fine.

"Captain?" Lance Corporal Davies asked him, her voice showing concern and SunTzu immediately looked at her and then nodded before he fully boarded.

The flight took a few minutes and midway in, SunTzu was keeping an sharp eye on the pilots while he tried his best to not tense up anymore, CCR's Bad Moon Rising began to play.

"Oh, I like that song." Rhian let slip as she began to nod her head to it.

SunTzu on the other side froze for a second. It was pure coincidence that the song was playing now, it had to be. Or was it a bad omen?

SunTzu was the first to drop from a helicopter again, while the Huey was still flying in and over a meter high as SunTzu landed in the grass of the small clearing, senses lashing out to any threat. After a moment of looking around, next to him the other soldiers poured out of the bird and the second helicopter came in behind him, and not sensing anything he kneeled down.

"Watch your sectors." He ordered the soldiers.

SunTzu demanded a hundred percent of focus on the patrol and the whole platoon began to wonder what was wrong with it's Captain, with voices ranging from asking if he had slept unwell and had a bad day to telling the others to be cautious because it could be the Captain's Force Powers telling him something.

Two demanding hours later the platoon was almost down with it's patrol and came to a large clearing, immediately First Squad crossed it, frog-leaping but there was not any sign of enemy contact and so the rest of the platoon cautiously moved up.

SunTzu was in the back third of the several hundred meter wide clearing and the platoon. He was kneeling over a map with Gunny Ortiz and they were talking about if they would switch up their way back to the landing zone. In front of them kneeling was Lance Corporal Davies, scanning the area, her backpack with the long-range radio had it's antennae extended, while the rest of the platoon had taken positions all over the clearing, forming small pockets or lines of security positions.

Far away from the clearing, in a military command center a real-time video broadcast from different cameras was displayed on a large panel, showing the forest clearing and the platoon from different angles as well as from above.

Military personnel in black uniforms were busy analyzing data and giving out orders in the room and in the middle an elderly officer with his aide was closely following the live feed.

While SunTzu and the Gunny were deciding which way they would take back, PFC Gupta, the twenty-year old Indian was a member of Neumann's and Evan's fireteam and was called Foureyes as he was wearing glasses excused himself to his as he had to take a leak. He had been lying next to Evans.

"Don't get shot with your dick out, eh." Evans told his comrade and friend before he got back to looking through his marksman rifle's optic.

"Yeah, yeah." Mumbled Foureyes as he shouldered his rifle and headed for the tree line.

Having arrived there he looked around and then opened his trousers.

While he took a piss he noticed a strange bug sitting at the leaf of a fern in front of him.

"Sir, I think one of the drones had been spotted!" A young Lieutenant yelled out in the military command center and turned around to the older commander in the middle of the room and both the older officer and his aide looked up to the panel showing the young soldier, wearing glasses leaning in to the tiny drone disguised as a beetle.

"Colonel, detonate the mines immediately!" A voice boomed out of speakers on the walls. The voice belonged to General Nawo Phyncx.

The General, and weapons researcher, newest tool of killing were tiny mines, only a few centimeters in diameter, with bodies made out of specially-hardened glass and filled with baradium as explosive and had an automated mechanism which would make them burrow themselves into a depth of ten centimeters and which also refilled the hole above them while the dug themselves in, the depth, the material and the almost none visible holes of the mines made it almost impossible to detect them. Alone or a few of them would hit them with a blastwave and explosion of a small thermo-detonator but also shower them with fragments of the glass, inflicting shrapnel wounds with hard-to-find glass splitters which lead to a very high probability of inflaming wounds. The mines, labeled GMX-002 by their creator, were even more horrible when used in quantity and close to each other. The barradium explosion was fusion-based, which meant if numerous mines nearby each other were detonated in the same time, the power of the explosion multiplied itself multiplicative.

There it was again.

An icecold sting ran down SunTzu's spine, as if someone had rammed a spear down his backbone. He could feel how the Force began to flow into him, warning him and all of his body and mind immediately shifted into danger mode.

He got up from kneeling and his head turned to Foureyes.

Surprised, Ortiz looked up to him. The Gunny wanted to wait until they were back in the helicopters to ask his platoon leader what was making him so tense today but something told the seasoned warrior that whatever it had been had just came true.

SunTzu could sense them, all of those small cylinders filled with explosives and made out of glass, a decimeter under their feet, hundreds of them. Under the Gunny, behind Foureyes, under, beyond, in front and next to all of them. And he knew they now would all explode at once. They all would die.

It all happened like in slow motion and the last thing Alejandro Ortiz saw was SunTzu's terrified expression and that his eyes began to glow yellow while some sort of shield, also yellow, began to form around him. And before everything went into bright light and then black forever the Gunny thought that he would never see his daughters again.

Setsuna was on the bridge of the Eternal. She was taking a much needed tea break, with the battles in the last days there had been plenty of work in the med bay and even a Senshi needed something to keep her going. Somehow she had the idea to enjoy the view from the bridge over the crowns of the never ending jungle.

To her joy, Rei had been at the bridge as well, as she just had brought news about her last meeting with the diplomatic staff to Artemis. Together the two Senshi enjoyed the view for a moment, after Setsuna had finished her cup of tea.

Until there was a huge explosion in the distance and before the sound and shockwave hit a huge fireball was visible.

Setsuna immediately turned around to the next officer, although she already knew the answer.

"Lieutenant, which unit was out there?"

The Lieutenant looked at a nearby laptop and then up to Setsuna. She was moving before he had answered.

"Third Battalion's Delta-Two."

"Rei!" Setsuna said and Rei, who had turned around just nodded and followed Setsuna, who rushing out of the bridge, in where now the alarm was going off.

In a small room in the belly of the Eternal two very intelligent men, both looked disheveled from hours of work and had cups of cold coffee in their hands, were tiredlessly monitoring an receiver for radio signals. And just a few seconds before the alarm began to blare on the ship their device had detected a radio call coming in.

Hundreds of kilometers away, being on a patrol flight near the next settlement, AICA's sensors had picked up a large explosion, and in milliseconds the AI had taken over the controls from Hotaru and threw herself into a sharp Immelmann.

"Whoa…AICA! What the…"

"Hotaru… SunTzu…"

On her way to the closest hangar, Setsuna had transformed into Sailor Pluto in the elevator down from the bridge, and after they had left the elevator the older Senshi was walking so fast that Rei had problems keeping up with her. The raven-haired priestess's skin was even more pale than usual.

On the run Setsuna had made her Garnet Rod vanish, she had briefly thought about to simply teleport over but she was sure that she needed all the medical equipment and helpers she could get. Or maybe nothing at all anymore. The whole platoon probably was dead after such an explosion. SunTzu was dead.

No. No. No! That stubborn troublemaker can't just die. Not now!

Hotaru and AICA were racing towards the explosion, the huge, black smoke cloud visible from dozens of kilometers away as it descend into the sky, the A-Wing had just crossed Mach 4.

Hotaru had taking over the controls again and had activated her Senshi Headset.

"Mom! That was SunTzu's unit!"

It took a few seconds before someone answered.

"I know. We're on our way."

"I fear he's…" Hotaru's voice became fragile.

"No! He's not." And that wasn't a lie, somehow Setsuna could sense him. His aura was weak but he was out there and he was still alive.

Don't you dare to die now!

Setsuna began to run.

Setsuna… Hotaru… Rei...

Slowly SunTzu regained his consciousness. Had that been his last or his first thought with the blackout between? No… his first, the last image before the explosion was that one of that lilac-silver haired woman…

The Platoon ...

Everything hurted and it felt impossible to just open his eyes. His head was humming, his mouth tasted like metal and his other senses didn't work at all yet.

The Platoon!

Although his whole body, or whatever was left of it, he didn't know by now he heavy he really was injured, was struggling against it, he opened his eyes.

Next to him lay the Gunny. And half of his face was missing.

A cold, empty gaze from the eye left was staring from the afterlife at SunTzu and before he could do something about it, SunTzu's stomach violently emptied himself.

At least he could support himself with his arms still, SunTzu thought, while he fought to bring his insides under control.

His nose began to work again as well, and the smell of mangled and burned bodies, blood, burning forest and explosives didn't make it easier for his stomach.

He had closed his eyes again but smoke from somewhere nearby still stung into them. He somehow had to muster the strength to get up.

His hearing came back, except for the crackling of the burning vegetation it was completely quiet. No screaming, no pleading, no groans, nothing.

He tried to use the Force, for sensing our, for strength, for relying on something but he just couldn't concentrate enough.

With what he believed was the last of energy he got up and forced himself to open his eyes again but he immediately dropped down on his knees again as the exhaustion hit him again.

Setsuna and Rei reached the hangar and Pluto immediately headed for the closest dropship. The two pilots inside were already doing their startup procedure. The other door of the hangar opened and Minako, her doctor's coat on, and a troop of medics came rushing in.

They met at the dropship, Setsuna pointed into the troop compartment.

"Minako!" She said and the blonde just nodded before she boarded along the medics. Rei was about to get in as well but Setsuna stopped her.

"You wait here."

That said the Senshi of Time vanished into the dropship which immediately lifted off and closed it's doors, leaving a worried looking Rei behind.

SunTzu almost had fallen unconscious again but forced himself to stay awake after he had heard something. A whisper close by and that sound had given him enough strength to open his eyes again. Praying to god that he wouldn't pass out he mustered all his remaining strength and somehow managed to get up without falling down. For a moment he just stood there.

"Owen."

That whisper again.

"Owen."

SunTzu knew that voice and his head slowly turned to where it came from.

"Mum. Dad."

With slow, inept steps he began to walk towards the voice.

"Owen."

He just had made a few steps when he stumbled over something and a burning, painful sensation gouged into his leg while he fell to the ground.

"Owen." The voice had begun to become more and more quiet as SunTzu looked back what was causing that pain and it needed a moment before he understood that he had stumbled over the remains of Davies's radio backpack. The hot metal of the radio had burned itself into his leg.

"Owen…"

Davies!

The burning pain and the realization that the Lance Corporal was still alive had freed the last reserves of adrenaline in SunTzu's body. Somehow he couldn't feel any pain as he stormed forward to where, between two small craters, laid Rhian.

SunTzu dropped down in front of her. The explosion had apparently ripped the backpack off of her back. The shrapnel had left wounds in every part of her body that hadn't been covered by armor and while her sleeves and pants had dozens of rips, blood from the extremities underneath streaming out, her biggest wound was a large slash on the side of her throat, having severed her carotid. A blood of pool had formed around her head on the ground.

"Davies." SunTzu stated and in that moment her pupils focused on him.

"Owen." She aspirated a last time, hoping her brother would come and rescue her and then her gaze became empty.

"No… no, NO!" SunTzu babbled as he reached over her, opening her blood-soaked plate carrier. He pulled it away, not caring for any potential harm and immediately began a cardiac massage. Somewhere in the distance he parenthetically could hear the sound of a fast moving starfighter but he didn't care, all that mattered was to save at least one of his soldiers.

The cloud of smoke of the explosion was ebbing away when AICA shot over the clearing at a low level.

"There!" Both Hotaru and AICA yelled out at the same time. Down there was a soldier leaned over another soldier trying to revive him and both immediately recognized SunTzu. Hotaru let out a big breather before she activated the comms.

"Mistress 9 to all units, we got survivors down there, we need MEDEVAC asap."

"Mistress 9, this is Hackney One Four, we are on our way, ETA sixty seconds." The pilot of the dropship answered, as they sped to location of the explosion. Setsuna had told the pilot, a First Lieutenant, that she would personally degrade him if he wouldn't be flying with top speed.

In and around the Eternal things had become busy. A second flight with medics and Commandos onboard had just left the hangar and down from Camp Whitefeather an alarm could be heard as well by now, as well as the sound of starting helicopter engines.

Even Haruka and Michiru, being on patrol in space were rushing back to the planet, having aborted their patrol as soon as they had heard which platoon had been attacked.

Rei was still waiting in the hangar but she had taken a few steps away from the dropships, as she understood that medics and their security were needed more urgent than her at the location of the explosion.

Nervously she looked around, wishing she was allowed to smoke a cigarette inside here. More and more soldiers arrived and as the third dropship got ready to leave, she noticed that one of the soldiers, one she had seen before, it was that soldier that once had investigated that bottle of champagne that the Herald of Chaos had sent her as part of the EOD-troop. The soldiers looked like he completely had lost it and as he tried to enter the dropship his comrades prevented him to do so, a comrade putting his arms around him and now that comrade and another soldier talking at him, trying to calm him down.

The man stayed back while the third flight left the hangar and just as it began to speed away, another group of people came in, Yuichiro with them.

He immediately ran over to her and hugged Rei, seeing that she was shocked.

"Rei, what happened? I heard one of our units was attacked by an IED."

"Yuichiro… SunTzu."

Hearing this he embraced he tightened her embrace as much as he could without hurting her.

Hotaru and AICA were circling over the clearing, which was now scattered with small craters, small fires raging in the vegetation around, smoke coming in from the fires. They had ascended again to make room for the incoming dropships but even from up here the remains of several soldiers were visible. Hotaru, ready to instruct the incoming flights should the need arise, looked on as the first dropship touched down at the clearing. It didn't touch down per se to not activate any hidden mines but the doors just had swung open when Sailor Pluto jumped out of the dropship, not caring if it was safe or not.

She sprinted over to SunTzu and almost ran into the corpses of two soldiers. For a moment she froze, she had seen these pose before. The upper one, apparently a blonde woman had tried to shield the soldier under her in her last moments, a man, parts of Maori-tattoos still visible on what was left intact of his skin, .

Suddenly Setsuna felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Pluto?" It was Minako she had run after her while the medics spread out from the dropship to either secure the area or look for survivors.

SunTzu had noticed that there was the sound of engines incoming, that there was something circling above him. But he hadn't cared, all that mattered was that at least Lance Corporal Davies would come back. He had lost the Gunny, god that man had two daughters, he had seen the ripped apart bodies of his soldiers scattered around while he had looked around applying CPR.

"C'mon Davies." He pressed out through gritted teeth.

Listening to Minako calling her name ripped Pluto out of her thoughts and she immediately focused on SunTzu again.

"SunTzu." She whispered and began to run again.

Within a few seconds she had closed the distance between them but then stopped in front of him, looking at his backside as he gave CPR to one of his soldiers. She felt his pain and it made her freeze.

Minako ran past her and dropped right next to SunTzu, pulling the medical backpack she had with her off her back in the process.

One look at the soldier SunTzu tried to save let Minako know all that she had to know.

"SunTzu." She tried to gain his attention. "SunTzu." She said with a softer voice but SunTzu didn't react.

"Hey." She tried again and SunTzu glanced at her for a moment before he got back to give Davies a cardiac massage.

"Minako… I have to save her. She was still talking just a few minutes ago."

Minako looked at him, and then she noticed the burned part of his combat pants and the wound underneath.

An arm slung around SunTzu's shoulder.

"You have to stop. She's gone."

"No, she's not! She just talked a few minutes ago."

"SunTzu." Minako now said a bit louder at SunTzu, trying to bring him to his senses but he didn't even look at her.

"She was asking for her brother, Minako."

The grip around SunTzu's now became more firm.

"SunTzu. Please. You have to let her go."

But SunTzu didn't react at all. A hundred meters to their front the second dropship descended down and the first Commandos jumped out of the ship's doors.

"She has to survive Minako! She just has to survive. Someone from the Platoon has to survive!" SunTzu yelled out but suddenly something hit his neck from the rear and he immediately became unconscious. Minako catched him and softly rolled him off the corpse of Rhian.

She looked up and saw Setsuna standing behind him, an empty syringe in her hand. Minako got it, while she had tried to bring SunTzu to reason, Setsuna had already understood that there was no sense in doing so and had taken one of the syringes with tranquilizers from the medical backpack to drug him so he would stop. And while she stood there the empty syringe in her hand, Minako saw that Setsuna was shaking as she was staring at SunTzu.