"You know Sarge, I'm beginning to like this!"
Private Jadadri Gapgis yelled over the blaster fire that went back and forth between his squad and an enemy troop in patch of forest on the planet of Odessen.
"I knew you were the same kind of crazy motherkriffer than we others are. Can you believe that shit, Sarge? Dude gets his cherry popped and begins to enjoy the FUBAR in the same mission." One of the soldiers next to them yelled, a corporal.
"Could you kids shut it for a moment and concentrate on shooting the enemy?" The squad leader of the two soldiers finally replied before he took aim again and felled an enemy soldier with his next shot.
Gapgis and the other soldiers followed the example and now began to seriously fight back now.
The troops they were facing here weren't on the same level as the ones they had faced earlier before when they had rescued the two pilots of the Voyager and so the fight didn't last for long.
"I'm so happy!" Sailor Saturn gave Sailor Neptune a tight hug. The four Outer Senshi had arrived back on the Far Side half an hour ago. The Larty and AICA had to wait to land as the Far Side had been supporting the ground troops with some well-aimed turbo-laser shots against enemy emplacements on the way towards the alleged enemy base.
All of them had used the delay to get some shut-eye before the two vehicles finally could land.
Setsuna, in her role as first caretaker of their family, had decided that they needed some nutrition and hydration before they all finally went to some well-deserved sleep.
In a silent corner of one of the dinning halls Michiru and Haruka had broken the news of their official engagement to the other two Outers.
Hotaru was up in an instant, drawing attention from other people eating when she had almost jumped over the table to hug the couple. And even Setsuna showed what was probably one of her biggest smiles in all her life as she came second and hugged it out with Haruka and Michiru.
Meanwhile SunTzu had relocated to the mobile HQ Taskforce Outer Sol had lifted to the planet of Odessen.
With heavy support from the Far Side, brought in light artillery walkers, a platoon of tracked heavy tanks and the Starfighters of the Taskforce Rago-Bataillon was fighting its way towards the mountain where the enemy ion cannon had been installed.
Most of the better trained and equipped units of the enemy seemed to have already been destroyed. Nonetheless the soldiers took their time and advanced cautiously.
Leonia Tavira found herself to actually feel anxiety dwelling in her. Her plan had somehow failed, probably due to fact that whenever her two armored units had been destroyed most of what had been left, were amateurs sent by the Herald to help her. They had been good enough to captivate the civilians on the planet but apparently failed to be a match for a few hundred soldiers from a backwater planet and their small cruiser.
It had been so close, but somehow her ion cannon had been destroyed. If that wouldn't have been the case she would have had two of those Senshi the Herold dreaded so much killed or captured. And bested the Galactic Alliance's forces in this system, which would have more than pleased that bastard that the Herald was. That son of a filthy spaceport whore, he never mentioned how strong these Sailor Senshi really were, even Horn with his Jedi Powers was a mere nuisance compared to them.
"Gunner, IFV, 12 o'clock, 600 meters."
"Glassed him."
"Fire."
A rumble went through the inside of the tank when the two heavy laser canons on the side of the turret of the heavy tank shot both at the same time and the shots found their target in an armored repulsor vehicle, making the vehicle crash and explode.
The tank crew of the T6-B Tank, part of the heavy tracked tank platoon stationed onboard the Far Side, had become seasoned in the last months of the Shadow War and here, on Odessen, it seemed that apart from a few emplacements with heavy anti-vehicle-weaponry there wasn't any real danger to them and their tank left, especially since the infantry following them, or advancing up ahead, did a real good job in neutralizing enemy infantry.
SunTzu knew about the strength, motivation and effectiveness of his troops but he knew the enemy was about to come up with something. Utilizing the Far Side's sensors, drones and small troops of infantry he constantly gathered information about the battlefield and the terrain up ahead.
And after a rather uneventful night with just some small skirmishes, the next morning broke and SunTzu, after a couple of hours of sleep was having breakfast with the small group of Officers and NCOs of the Field HQ, a bunch of soldiers and Royal Guards standing guard. Of course the German Pilot had made sure the soldiers had already had their breakfast and some rest before he ate himself.
He even had come over for the length of a cigarette to talk to the young soldiers and ask how they were doing.
Rago-Battalion had rested in the field, with First Company being the one getting the most rest in the back as they had the most of fighting the day before.
Even the Commandos had gotten some hours of rest as they had returned to friendly lines in the night. By dayfall they already had marched back and infiltrated into potential enemy territory already though.
The four Senshi on the Far Side were still in their quarters resting, meanwhile the staff of the compact Star Destroyer was busy supporting the ground troops and also patrolling space with the help of the starfighters onboard.
For the seasoned Captain Mancini and his crew things were going according to plan now and being freed of the danger of planetary defensive fire the ship could bring out all his possibilities.
In the morning light combat went on and the troops of the Galactic Alliance were advancing fast.
SunTzu had relocated the HQ closer to the front. Before the mobile HQ repulsor vehicle had left, he had given a long last look to the wreck of the Voyager. He sure had to check his messages when he was done here he thought before he turned around, climbed into the vehicles back compartment and gave the order to move out.
SunTzu just had joined the staff in his headquarters when Team 1 came in over radio. Sergeant Tateel requested SunTzu personally on the radio.
Sneaking behind enemy lines and conducting deep reconnaissance the Commandos had almost gotten 3 kilometers close to the mountain where the enemy apparently had his headquarters.
And the Commandos also had found out why the enemy hadn't attacked in force anymore.
Crawling the last hundred meters from cover to cover the Commandos had found a forest right on the frontal approach to the mountain which had been turned into a single defensive position, manned by a few hundred enemy soldiers, posted in fox holes or behind cover, with heavy weapon emplacements trained at the direction the Taskforce was nearing from.
The elite soldiers backed away again and after getting in some distance they contacted their commander.
After hearing the information SunTzu and Tateel decided to find another way around, maybe even in a way that they could circle the enemy in and make combat easier.
As usual, the Commandos moved swiftly but still unseen and soon SunTzu got feedback from Team 5. Apparently both plains beside the way to the mountain, closed in by other rocky and steep mountains were thoroughly mined, leaving the fortified forest the only way to the enemy mountain headquarters. De-mining would take it's sweet time and also it was very likely the enemy would then attack from a very advantageous position from inside the forest.
Moff Tavira smiled as she looked at the screens in front of her repulsor seat. Those screens showed the area in the fortified forest.
Of course these idiots from the GA would step into her trap. Things were going well for them and to upkeep their tempo they would directly march through the forest. Most of the rest of her personnel was posted in the forest. She knew that the GA didn't have the capacity to start a large-scale air assault and from what she knew most of their troops were foot-mobiles. And she would beat them just a few kilometers from the target they thought they had pretty much sacked in. And that wasn't the only surprise she still had for these pack of spoilt core folk.
She began to laugh before she turned to her adjutant.
"Inform the Invidious to make course into the system. And then sent the Herald a message. Tell him I'm on the verge of beating the GA here."
"We could just Base Delta that forest and move on."
"That was my first idea as well, Captain. But see how dense it is. It could take days until the ground can be walked on because of the glimmer, heat and fires. Not to mention the smoke."
SunTzu and Captain Mancini, together with the Battalion Commander of the Fourth were having a conversation via holo projectors about the further approach.
Suddenly an Intelligence Officer stopped next to Captain Mancini, a paper in his hand.
The Captain of the Far Side excused himself as the message seemed urgent and then read the message.
"Looks like GAIS is interested in our operation all of a sudden. Maybe we could use that to our advantage and get some reinforcements in, if we play our cards right with the top brass."
"Too long. Just like burning down the forest. I have a hunch, that we need to hurry here." SunTzu pretty sure that it was the Force that urged him to act here.
He pulled out a data pad with a map of the AO and looked at it for a moment.
"Gentlemen, I think I have an idea."
Thirty minutes later SunTzu was back on the Far Side, AICA had picked him up.
He met with the staff onboard inside the TCC, a freshly woken up Setsuna, now in uniform had joined them.
He had explained his plan to rest of the leadership of Outer Sol and then had left quickly.
Although he and Setsuna had greeted each other he knew that it was better to put the plan in motion fast now, Lieutenant Colonel Meiou sure didn't had any of it. Not that she had been the only one but except for Captain Mancini, who had been on SunTzu's side, his girlfriend was the only one who could play out her rank to stop him.
"Je'taime mon Amour." Michiru whispered as she deeply looked into her girlfriend's, now fiancée's eyes.
The two of them, having been shot down, going into hiding, chased, gone Cosmic and somehow survived until SunTzu and the ground troops had found them, had been exhausted beyond believe, but still they somehow managed to at least seemingly make more love than sleeping tonight.
It hadn't been the lustful, crazy, passionate kind of love-making they so often had made after battle, a celebration of surviving, no it had probably been one of their most sensitive and close nights of all times.
They both had been awakened for a few minutes already and just had laid there, embracing each other and enjoying each other warmth and closeness.
"I love you, Michi." Haruka kissed Michiru's forehead and then looked back in the teal-haired's eyes.
"When we done here, I'll urge the retaking of Fondor to everyone above us. Taking care of that unfinished business and get revenge. And then we marry. A kiss followed and Michiru had to suppress a small smile. Haruka still couldn't deal with any kind of loosing. And loosing the Voyager sure had made her beyond anger. Nonetheless was it a sign of the deep love of the blonde that she wanted to marry after Fondor and not after they had defeated Chaos.
So far, so good…
SunTzu thought he somehow had managed to get away with Setsuna not stepping in into his plan as he was doing the last checks for taking off in AICA.
He looked down at one of the small monitors inside the cockpit to check the engines' status and when his head turned back up he looked in the admittedly beautiful but irritated face of his girlfriend, just a few decimeters away.
He twitched as he tried to keep up a poker face.
"Setsuna, Darling. Nice that you come for a good… luck kiss. I have to hurry though."
The slight rising of her eyebrow gave him the assurance that he wasn't getting out of this without a discussion.
"AICA, take over, will ya." He commanded his ship while swallowing hard and looking away from Setsuna for a moment before he turned back to her.
"You're trying to kill yourself again?"
"Nope, trying to win this war."
She pressed her lips together, looked into nowhere and nodded before she spoke.
"With trying to kill yourself. You didn't change a bit since when you left the Taskforce."
SunTzu's eyes narrowed to slits, he understood that she was angry but this was crossing a line, especially given her risky action earlier on.
Of course Setsuna was absolutely with it and stared right back.
"Okay, then we don't do that. I let my men walk to their certain demise then and let them get slaughtered down there then. Oh, and don't worry, you won't have to write a single letter to their mothers, that will be my task alone. As I am their commanding officer on this mission. By the way, wasn't leadership something you wanted me to take on?"
Setsuna closed her eyes for a moment and looked away, clearly fighting the urge to get loud.
"Chronos… it's always the same with you. No matter which reincarnation. I'm acting suicidal because I have to protect my man."
"Ah, now I'm not only getting into trouble for my own actions but for the action of someone who lived 2000 years before me."
"Doesn't matter, you're…"
"It does. And just for the record, I'm not the only one on this mission who did risky shit."
"Don't interrupt me, when I'm speaking!" Setsuna hissed out, her face reddening in anger. "And that is something completely different."
A yawning Hotaru, dressed in half opened flight suit and a white tank top, popped up next to Karlena, who stood a few meters afar from AICA and quietly observed the couple obviously arguing while trying to be silent and not catch any attention. It doesn't help much as Setsuna's hissing and SunTzu trying to keep his voice low were clearly audible.
"Looks like they're having a pretty bad argument."
Hotaru stretched out and looked at her mother and her mentor.
"That was something completely different. And the risk was very well calculated. Not like your actions."
"It's basically the same that I did before."
"Just right in front of the enemy base. And it's defenses."
"Which are severely damaged by now. Plus we have the moment of surprise. A well calculated risk if you ask me."
Setsuna let out a sigh before SunTzu continued, why after all these millennia she was still holding up with this soul.
"Plus, it guarantees the most secure outcome for our troops. Bringing my men home is just as important as to protect the Senshi. And you know that I almost failed in the later, so give me a chance to at least fully succeed in the former."
She stared at him for a moment and then glanced to the side, thinking about what he just said. By the gods, this soul would never change. But she couldn't deny that he, although risking his own life, was finally stepping up to be the man he should be.
"I'll come along."
"No. You're staying here on the Far Side. I'm not risking the wealth of any Senshi here anymore. You know about my primar duty in the name of the crown." He showed her a disarming smile. "Give some of us regular people a chance to do some great for once." He ended the sentence with a wink.
"Fine." She had to admit, most of her anger had come from her trauma loosing Marcus Antonius and now fearing to loose SunTzu as well.
"Thank you. I'll try to be quick."
"I'm more interested in you coming back in one piece."
"Don't worry, I got the Force with me. And Setsuna?"
She looked at him and saw love and sincerity in his eyes.
"I love you."
There was a hint of a smile around her lips when she replied. "Troublemaker."
"Ah, that's more of a trauma-response thing than a real argument. They just triggered each other. Don't worry." Hotaru nonchalantly stated to Karlena. "Good thing she is not going with him. Otherwise we would have to clean the seats again."
Slowly the Devaronian turned to the young human but Hotaru kept her gaze on the two adults. "Yeah, I know. Gross."
"Don't take any further unreasonable risks." Setsuna told with sympathy in her voice, as she watched SunTzu finish his take-off preparations.
"Don't worry." He smiled mischievously as he quickly glanced at the monitor showing the end starting preparations. But then he turned back to her and there was sadness in his eyes. "I understand your fear. I felt the same anxiety when you teleported to the planet. It feels... safer, easier, going myself to do this instead jeopardizing your life or Hotaru's. Or Haruka's and Michiru's. It's been too close this time."
Setsuna answered with closing her eyes and leaning down. He may costed her last nerve but there was no other being that was like him in the whole Universe. She kissed his forehead and whispered an "I love you too." before she climbed down AICA's frame again.
SunTzu smiled as he watched her move away and then put on his pilot helmet.
"UAVs ready?" He asked his loyal starship.
"Copy."
SunTzu activated the repulsor, a small vibration going through the whole starfighter.
"Let's ride."
"Madame Moff, I have incoming starfighters. They're coming in directly from space."
"That's just a few starfighters, nothing that could be dangerous for us." Leonia Tavira spoke out from her seat in the middle of her command center.
The newly-appointed sensor officer swallowed hard before he turned back to Moff Tavira.
"Ma'am, sensors shows that there's K-Wings inbound. These vessels could very indeed carry weapons who could become dangerous to us. And it's that modified A-Wing leading that attack."
"Fine… weapons, keep them at bay. But first train all weapons on that A-Wing. And vaporize it. Quickly!"
"They got us on their screens." A small warning signal accompanied AICA's statement.
SunTzu grinned under his pilot helmet, maybe Setsuna had been right about the risks but was there something better than flying the best starfighter in the Galaxy, against all odds, while besting your enemies with a cunning plan and making sure your friends and men are coming home?
"Status of the drones?"
"Three clicks behind us for Decoy One. Fifteen for Decoy Two. Decoy Three is coming around."
"Okay, let them stay on course while we take fire."
Just as he had said that, the first remaining defensive laser guns of the enemy base began to fire at AICA and SunTzu.
SunTzu dodged the incoming shots easily while AICA raced towards the planet almost vertically.
His smile got even bigger as he drove AICA from barrel roll to barrel roll and jinking maneuver. This was some real flying and there was no way, he, having AICA and his Force-heightened senses could not carry out his mission. Not that AICA almost constantly gave out warning signal after warning signal.
But a ruse was a ruse and he would make damn sure it worked. If he had to be a commander of a whole Taskforce he knew he would prove himself. While green light raced past left and above AICA the thought that maybe he really was made out to be a leader hit him.
"Ten seconds."
"Madame Moff! We got more incoming. I have four gunships… and another wave of Starfighters. And a Corellian Corvette."
"Weapon stations… shoot them down. Shoot them down or you'll be shot!"
More and more turbo laser shots passed AICA, some of them too close for comfort.
"And now for our grand trick."
"Starting attack."
SunTzu activated his comms. "Far Side, open fire."
Except for AICA and the gunships all the signals that had been picked up by the sensors inside Tavira's headquarters had been small drones, decoys who had been controlled and steered by AICA and which had the ability to fake the signatures of other Starfighters and planes. AICA could carry several of them but this time these drones had been started from the Far Side directly as they had been modified. A second wave had been secretly sent out by the Far Side and had entered the planet's atmosphere from a different spot.
The enemy defensive guns, starting to overheat after the intensive flak, just now began to redirect their fire on the other incoming targets, what Tavira's men thought to be bombers, but it was too late. The UAVs had been hastily modified and filled with explosives, effectively having turned them into very intelligent cruise missiles. Using now their full power of their engines they accelerated as AICA piloted them remotely into the enemy defensive emplacements.
That was for the most of them, except for Decoy Two, which was one of the Far Side's reconnaissance drones, by far larger than the small drones AICA could carry and which had been also turned into an intelligent missile, but its target was not the enemy's defensive guns
SunTzu pulled AICA up hard, releasing a duo of missiles, multi-warhead ones to further cover the drones approach.
And as the smaller drones got into their final approach, the Far Side now opened fire too from her turbo-laser- and maser-guns.
While the turbolaser-fire rained down on the forest in which the enemy had taken positions in, vaporizing the enemy and the forest in large green beams of light.
The maser-fire was aimed at several defensive emplacements of the enemy base, their positions having been transmitted by AICA and the drones.
Almost simultaneously the drones and the yellow-colored maser-beams hit the enemy weapons. The initial attack was devastating and just as AICA locked on and the Far Side was about to shift fire the larger drone hit the enemy base, close to where the large ion cannon had been located.
The attack was devastating, at the enemy base all the remaining defensive weapons had been destroyed by the smaller drones, the Far Side and AICA.
But the weapons only had been the secondary target at the base, the primary one was the target Decoy Two hit. The larger drone, using its engines that were pretty much the same as the one of starfighters, drove itself deep into an already damaged part of the base and then exploded, breaching the enemy base, just as SunTzu had hoped for and AICA had calculated.
And that was the moment Outer Sol had been waiting for, unchallenged the four LAATis soared in and the first one hovered over the breach in the mountain's base dome.
Ropes were lowered out and Team Five rappelled down. As soon as the team was inside the base the first gunship moved away and the next Lartie came in, doing the same.
The Commandos were followed by two squads of the Fourth and within two minutes Team 5 and a reinforced platoon of the Fourth were inside the base.
"Madame… the enemy…"
"I saw that, Lieutenant! Sent all our remaining troops out to defend the base!" Moff Tavira looked through the room.
"This goes for all of you, destroy the enemy or I'll have you all executed!"
Some of the officers inside the room hesitated, but when Tavira's adjutant, the captain who had shot the lieutenant earlier, reached for his blaster, the crew of the command center moved out.
Leonia Tavira activated the comms on her commander's seat, she tried to reach the Herald again.
To her, admittedly secret surprise, the supreme commander of the Forces opposing the Galactic Alliance answered and his profile appeared in front of her.
"Moff Tavira. I expected your call.
Let me guess…"
"Curse you, Herald! You played me! Do you have any idea who I…"
"Leonia, from your outburst I sense you are about to be bested. I gave you a simple task and your arrogance made you fail it. You weren't even competing against the whole of Taskforce Sol and still failed."
"You bastard…"
"You have to pardon me, I don't have time to deal with failures." That said he ended the connection and left the Moff alone.
Admiral and Moff Tavira's head had become red and she was about to scream out her anger. She was angry, with the Galactic Alliance and their soldiers in her base, with her own men who had all failed her, against the Herald, even against herself. How could she had fallen into this suicide mission, how could she even have shared her bed with that bastard that the Herald was. No, not everything was over, she still had an escape plan, she just had to play for time, even if that meant to sacrifice every soldier in this base to get in more time.
She took a deep breather and then looked at her adjutant.
"Captain, how long until the Invidious arrives in this system?"
From the higher floors the Soldiers and Commandos of the Taskforce had the better shooting positions and the veterans of this battle and many more worked together effectively and mowed down the arriving enemy as soon as they arrived.
Using explosive grenades and stun grenades as well as excessive firepower the Taskforce's soldiers, soon joined by more of their troops with the next flight of Larties, even two of the tanks had been flown in to guard and attack the front entrance of the base along with more soldiers of the Taskforce.
SunTzu had joined the battle and lead the assualt on the the main entrance personally, breaching it with another platoon of soldiers of the Fourth, pistol in one hand and light saber in the other.
The battle was intense, several soldiers of the Taskforce were wounded, but shortlived.
Most of the enemies were neutralized while some surrendered. It was the Squad of Private Gapgis who had stormed the control center of the base and although Gapgis had been shot in the open, unprotected space under his armpit by Tavira's adjutant he managed to take the captain out and he and the other soldiers in his squad could detain an immediately surrendering Moff Tavira.
"Congratulations Captain. Your plan really worked, I have to admit that even I had my concerns, although I was sure if someone could pull that off, it would have been you."
"Grazie Mille, Captain Mancini. Guess they don't call me SunTzu for nothing."
"Intelligence and a squad of the Royal Guard are on the way to detain the POWs, I have the holding cells ready."
"Affirmative. Do me a favor and give word to the Queen and Coruscant that our mission was successful. Coruscant maybe wants to sent a detachment of the reserves or local forces to take over from us. We're probably needed somewhere else."
Captain Tauk, standing next to SunTzu looked at his commander.
"Needed somewhere else?"
"Better than garrison duty, right?" SunTzu smiled, he had to admit that after this mission, having not lost a single soldier by now, he had found liking in leading these fine warriors and besting the enemy as leader. "You have to admit our unconventional ways are best at hitting the enemy where it hurts. After all we have some bills to settle. And a war to win."
Captain Tauk took on a grin as well, SunTzu was damn right.
A few minutes later, SunTzu was being lead to the position of the enemy commander, a female Ex-Moff called Leonia Tavira. SunTzu tried to remember where he once had heard that name before but couldn't think of it.
On the way he walked past the young private he had seen when he had first come to the planet. Right now he was getting bandaged by a medic but when he saw SunTzu he gave him a thumbs up and SunTzu nodded at the young man, there was no more fear on the man's face and SunTzu had to admit once more that he was more than proud of his troops.
Soon the German found himself next to a middle-aged woman, quite attractive and with a hairstyle similar to the one Hotaru had before she decided to let her hair grow out.
Moff Tavira greeted him with a salute, she seemed oddly composed.
After the salute she offered him her hand.
"Congratulations…" She looked at him curiously.
"Captain. Captain SunTzu."
Leonia Tavira had major problems not to twitch, she had been bested by a mere Captain, that man was not even a General, and the fact that he looked like the Herald didn't make it better. Nevertheless she had a facade to keep up, so she smiled as SunTzu as he took her hand and shook it. "Captain SunTzu. I have to admit that you bested me." She looked around at the three soldiers guarding her before she turned back to SunTzu.
"Could we have some privacy to talk. You know from Commander to Commander?" Her smile was quite seductive and SunTzu furrowed his brow before he turned to the Sergeant next to him and nodded.
The three soldiers backed off and after a moment Tavira looked deep into SunTzu's eyes before she closed her hands behind her back and walked past SunTzu.
"You know, Captain." She stopped behind SunTzu who hadn't took his gaze off of her and took around. "I do have a thing for men that are intelligent and cunning." Her index finger went on his chest and traveled slowly down. "Especially when they are handsome as you." Maybe she could even had a little bit of fun, chances were this man fucked as well as the Herald.
Suddenly, and before a dumbfounded SunTzu could answer, she felt a tip on the shoulder and turned around and her world exploded in pain as a fist found its target on her nose. Immediately her eyes swoll up as blood shot out of her broken nose.
"I said that 2000 years ago and I'll say it again, next harlot trying to put hands on my man gets it!" SunTzu looked even more dumbfounded for the blink of an eye before he began to smile, with pride.
God, how much he loved this woman.
"Medic!" SunTzu yelled and within a few seconds the three soldiers were back and lead the in pain wailing Tavira to the next medic.
"Guess, I just came at the right time." Setsuna, wearing combat clothes but no helmet said with a knowing grin.
"You know I wouldn't have…"
A finger on his mouth, at least from her left and not her right which she had used to break the other woman's nose, shut him up.
"We both know she's no match for me."
"In any and every way. Nobody is. But shouldn't you be on the Far Side? You know, where you're safe. And where I told you to stay."
"I heard we had some wounded, so I came with one of the Larties."
SunTzu was about to say something but was cut short, Setsuna grabbed him by the collar of his flight suit, and pulled him to close to her.
"And maybe I just wanted to get a kiss and didn't want to wait until my victorious lover got back from his crusade."
A deep, passionate kiss followed.
One of the first flights going back to the Far Side was Moff Tavira and an escort of Royal Intelligence agents, along with the most severe wounded.
Moff Tavira had become very quiet, and only partly because of the painkillers. She just couldn't wait to get back on the Invidious and flee. Somewhere where she could hide until everything had its downfall. Once more far away from the greater events of this damned Galaxy, a few months or years of piracy to gain more wealth and recruit a new army. She was at a point where she was happy with just being rich until her death and maybe ruling over a single system or two. And an Imperial Star Destroyer was just about the method to gain this power.
SunTzu was overseeing the ground operations, the combat on this planet seemed to be over and the first squads even had moved up to the completely devastated and charred remains of the forest in which the enemy army had fortified itself.
Setsuna had taken over charge of the medic units on the ground and had made sure the worst cases were flown to the Far Side asap. Even she had to admit that it was a little miracle that nobody of the Taskforce had died in the fighting and of course she wanted to do her part to keep it that way, as some of the injuries were pretty severe. Apparently the units fighting against them here had been trained to shot against the chest, which saved the lives of countless soldiers of the Taskforce. If the enemy had been trained to shoot at the head, things had gone different.
Captain Mancini was having his afternoon espresso on the bridge, the first flights had been arrived back at Far Side and shuttled back, as the first prisoners of war had been locked up and the wounded taken to the med bay. Suddenly an alarm went off and before the sensor officer could make his report, Mancini saw the silver triangle in the distance. He almost spilt his espresso and although he just had a sip of the black, hot, sweet and strong liquid his throat immediately dried up.
"All hands to battle stations!"
"Captain, we have an ISD… clarification ISD-II incoming."
"Negative… ID says it's the Invidious, a rogue ship."
SunTzu swallowed the fuck on his tongue down and immediately activated his communicator.
"AICA!"
"On my way."
A hostile ISD, especially the more advanced ISD-II was bad, very bad. The Far Side, even with its fighter complement had no chance against it.
While the six A-Wings of Styx Squadron already raced up towards the Far Side AICA collected SunTzu and both gave full thrust towards space as well.
The Invidious was advancing rather slow, sensors showed that she wasn't doing full speed and had some other shortcomings as well, for example some missing weapons and wasn't at a hundred percent energy, which probably was caused by having spent years without proper replenishment and repairs.
Nevertheless two squadrons of fighters formed around the ship.
"Are those TIE Phantoms?" One of the pilots of Styx, one of the two females in the squadron, came in as visual sensors showed a whole squadron of the fighters, which had triple wings around a non-spherical but rather conal cockpit, something not too common for TIEs.
"At least we're lucky in that regard, sensors showing that it's only V38s." One of the sensor operators onboard the Far Side replied. Both the sensor operator's and the pilot's voice sounded strained.
Hotaru had immediately ran to her Y-Wing, the single-seater one and immediately started all the pre-flight preparations. Her jaw dropped when she asked for take-off clearance, Flight Control told her that both Lieutenant Colonel Meiou and Captain SunTzu had ordered, autonomously from each other, that Lieutenant Meiou wasn't allowed to fly.
Soon AICA had closed the distance to the other wings as they rushed to a point a few kilometers in front of the Far Side to defend the vessel from the enemy fighters.
Apart from the V38s the Invidious had spews out a colorful mixture of snub fighters, ranging from T-Wings over Cloakshapes to Uglies, a typical mix for pirates and a very unusual loadout for an Imperial Star Destroyer.
Meanwhile Moff Tavira yelled like a banshee, demanding a high-ranking officer to talk to her. The alarm for battle stations told her that the Invidious had appeared and now she just had to persuade someone to let her go, as she then would stop the attack. Of course the moment she would step foot on her Star Destroyer she would blast this little ship here and everyone board and then she probably would Base Delta Zero the planet and purge it from those pesky GA soldiers.
What she hadn't taken in count was the stoicism and discipline of the Royal Guards guarding her, they would have maybe listened if she had spoken to them in a calm and controlled way but the Guards of the Royal Family of Crystal Tokyo had basically learned from scratch to not give in to yelling woman without an authority telling them or real danger for the Royals or the Court inbound.
"At least we don't have to fight a detachment of Defenders."
"They still outnumber us a quadruple times."
"Then everybody gets to shoot something."
As the A-Wings maneuvered towards their defensive position, alarms in the fighters and the Far Side began to blare again.
"We got some more incoming." One of the pilots yelled out after glancing to his side.
A small pause followed and then the sensor operator of the Far Side came in over the tactical channel, open for all ships of Outer Sol, his voice full of hope.
"Incoming ships are friendly, I repeat incoming ships are friendly!"
SunTzu immediately felt the sensation of a known individual in the Force. He turned his head to see a slick bluish Mon Cal cruiser arriving just a few kilometers away from them, along with a smaller vessel beside it, fighters leaving the hangars of the Mon Cal Cruiser.
"AICA…"
"That MC75 is the Sidion… hold up you won't believe that…"
"SunTzu?"
"Master Horn?!"
"Affirmative, we heard that you found an old friend of mine and thought we'll pay her a visit. Just in time as I see."
"You bet your old CorSec Badge on that."
A small laughter came in before Jedi Master Corran Horn replied again.
"Alright then, Wraiths let's make way for the B-Wings."
Corran Horn's green striped XJ-Wing along with a squadron of Stealth-X-Wings immediately moved in to attack the enemy fighters.
"Wraiths?" SunTzu said to himself and AICA chimed in.
"If I wouldn't have been interrupted, yes, that's Wraith Squadron with Master Horn."
Wraith Squadron was the legendary spy-commando-starfighter-team of the Galactic Intelligence and probably the second best squadron in the Galaxy after Rogue Squadron.
SunTzu began to grin as he put energy in AICA's engines. "Styx, let's not have the infamous pilots get all the credit."
Two Jedis and Wraith Squadron along with the superior velocity of the A-Wings of Styx made short process with the enemy fighters and as soon as the way had been cleared a squadron of B-Wings began it's attack on the Invidious.
At this point it was already over, covered and supported by the faster Starfighters the bombers attacked the critical points on the ISD. As soon as the shields were down and parts of the guns had been neutralized both the Sidion and the Far Side moved in as well and began to unleash their weaponry on the bigger ship.
A final full volley of both GA capital ships finally lead to the Star Destroyer breaking apart with a series of explosions.
Again the victory was flawless and SunTzu had to admit without any jealousy how good of pilots Master Horn and the pilots of Wraith Squadron were.
Leonia Tavira had given up her yelling and hoped that her loyal followers on the Invidious were already preparing the boarding party, shooting seemed to have stopped, so she was sure that those GA cowards had surrendered.
She had turned around and waited, arms crossed behind her back for her escort to the hangar to get to the Invidious.
And then she he heard a familiar voice from her past and almost threw up.
"Leonia Tavira, the black widow of Eiattu 6. Long time no see."
Immediately she turned around and started yelling, how could that be. It had to be a fake image through this Force-wizardry that man was so good in.
"HORN… You!"
"Pssshhh… no need to yell."
"Kriff you! You are dead, my crew will…"
"Hate to say it, but nobody of your crew is likewise to ever do anything again. The Invidious is scrap metal."
"LIES! You deceitful…"
Not fazed by any of her rants, calm like a true Jedi-Master, Corran Horn crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"You have been beaten. It's over, I'm here to take you to Corellia. I hope you're prepared to be in a maximum security prison for the rest of your life."
Tavira had become quiet, her shoulders slumped down and defeat finally was visible in her face.
"Don't worry, Leonia, it will be way better place than my old cell on the Lusankya."
"I can't believe I was not allowed to take off. The Wraiths were out there."
"And you were not in danger at all."
Hotaru was really upset, a squadron of that skills and she had to stay on the Far Side. Both of them were walking back to the bridge. And although SunTzu totally understood her point from a pilot's view he was glad that she hadn't been in any danger. After all those V38s and other snubs the enemy used were far more capable in a dogfight than a Y-Wing. Not that Hotaru wouldn't had make up for that with her skills, but it still felt more right to have her in safety.
"I'm pretty sure he would have allowed you to fly, if it hadn't been over in mere minutes but you had no permission to take off from me as well."
Setsuna, her usual stoic look on her face, appeared next to Hotaru, the girl was now in between the two others. She pouted at her mother but before she could reply, Setsuna's face turned to being one of warmth and motherly love.
"We both just wanted to make sure you're safe for once. All of us pulled enough risky actions on this mission already." A dunning glance hit her lover.
Hotaru's anger was gone, it was actually nice that people cared for her safety more than for her abilities in combat. But as a teenager of course she wouldn't let these two know, at least not immediately.
"Next time some famous pilots are out there, I'm getting AICA. And a take-off clearance."
Setsuna smiled to herself, knowing that her partner would immediately falter, but she wouldn't say anything either, sometimes even the strictest of mothers had to let go.
"Next time. If it's not too dangerous of course."
And then SunTzu stopped and looked first at Hotaru and then at Setsuna, both had kept walking.
"By the way, has anybody seen Michiru and Haruka?"