"What can you tell us about the castle's design or layout?" Midas asked Princess Luna as Rook, Kozak, and Holt powered up Reconnaissance Drones and flew them over the Palace, each watching their drones' camera feeds through a wrist-MRT.

"Let me show you." Luna nodded, using her magic to project a hologram of the castle in front of them. "There are several small postern gates built into the walls. Most of them were sealed up over time, but one has been maintained for times of emergency."

As Luna pointed out the small gate on the western wall of the Palace, Mitchell took a knee and looked over the hologram with a furrowed brow.

"Rook? Where are those hostiles positioned at?"

Rook, or Staff Sergeant Drew Callaghan, came over with his MRT, and with some help from Princess Luna, they managed to cross-reference the drone feeds with the hologram. As the Ghosts came and circled around, Mitchell cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Listen up. Here's the plan, Ghosts. We'll insert via the small postern gate here, that leads directly into the gardens near the ballroom. The OpFor has secured the ballroom and the immediate area in a relatively quick amount of time, so we can assume they haven't set up regular patrols in favor of protecting their hostages instead."

"Which gives us the advantage. Nomad, Aegis Lead, Hunter Lead, each of you will take your team along a different route to the ballroom and quietly drop any hostiles in your path. We raise any sort of alert here, they'll most likely start shooting. Work your way to the ballroom and eliminate all hostiles. Any questions?"

"Any intel on the OpFor's weapons?" asked Travis Piers, callsign Sparrow, a member of Aegis Team.

"We can't say for sure, but we'll assume these bastards are on our level and go from there." Mitchell replied. "Expect to see military to spec-ops grade weaponry, and equipment to go with it. Flashbangs, frag grenades, et cetera."

"Any idea of a motive for this?" asked Kozak.

"Not that we would know of." Luna chimed. "I would surmise this attack was planned to send us into a state of fear. However, I do wonder why they would not simply just kill everypony inside. It would be much less work for them."

"They're most likely using them as shields or leverage if needed." Nomad replied. "Don't worry. We'll get them all out alive."

"And with that, Ghosts...it's time to go to work." Mitchell nodded as the Ghosts prepped their weapons, heading off towards the western wall. As the Equestrians and Mitchell watched them leave, Luna turned to the Lt. Colonel with an expression of concern.

"Is something wrong?" Mitchell asked.

"I have more questions for you specifically, Lt. Colonel." she replied. "If you'll allow them."

"If you insist."

As the Princess and Mitchell proceeded to a nearby gazebo to speak in private, Nomad motioned the three teams forward as they locked and loaded their weapons.

====

As Hunter Lead and Aegis Lead broke off, Nomad slapped the bolt home on his ACR Assault Rifle and looked it over briefly. This rifle had seen him through Operation: Kingslayer and the resulting clean-up operations undertaken on the Extranjeros.

Nomad motioned Midas, Holt, and Weaver forward as they approached their assigned entryway. Nomad pulled out a breaching torch, and cut the lock loose. As the door swung open and the light from the torch faded, Nomad moved into cover behind a statue in the gardens.

As he switched on his magnetic vision filter that was built into his Cross-Com eyepiece, he could see four hostile riflemen standing in defensive positions by the main gate. From their posture, Nomad could tell that they were intended to catch anyone foolish stupid enough to launch a frontal strike in a four-gun crossfire.

Good tactics, Nomad thought as he motioned for a Sync Shot maneuver. As the members of Kingslayer Team moved into position, Nomad noticed Aegis Lead send a hand signal for him to halt.

"Nomad, you've got two hostiles in the trees split between your left and right." Aegis Lead replied. "Set up your Sync Shot and we'll follow up on the stragglers."

"Copy." Nomad replied, shifting his aim slightly. "3...2...1...execute."

As the four guards dropped at the same time, the two other Guards rushed over and moved directly into Aegis Lead and Domino's line of fire. Two shots apiece dropped the two responders, and the Ghosts moved to the door.

"Kozak, we need a drone inside now." Hunter Lead ordered. Kozak set up his Recon Drone, and moved it over to a nearby window. As the feed streamed to the Ghosts' Cross-Coms, Nomad thought over a plan in his head.

"Listen up. Aegis Team, move around to the left side near that stained glass window. Hunter Team, move to the right side near that atrium."

"What's the plan?" 30K asked.

"Plan calls for a Triple-Pincer maneuver." Nomad replied. "There's two sets of four Guards on each side. If we Sync Shot them quickly enough, it'll cause enough of a distraction that'll draw them away from the door in front of us. That's when we'll breach in and mop up."

"Check." Aegis Lead gave the "OK" symbol with his hand and motioned for his team to move, positioning each individual member to one of the four windows. Hunter Team did the same as they stacked up behind the atrium statue, two to a side.

"Breach and clear in 5...4...3...2...1…"

"Execute."

====

As the Ghosts opened fire, simultaneously dropping the eight soldiers that stood near their assigned groups of hostages, the remaining soldiers took cover as best they could given their environment and began searching for their attackers.

Then, the ballroom door blasted open in a cloud of dust, courtesy of a breaching charge. Two flashbangs soon followed, and the three unlucky soldiers who strayed from cover to engage were caught in the open and dropped summarily.

The five remaining soldiers opened fire as the Ghosts executed the triple-pincer, with Hunter and Aegis Teams on the left and right, with Kingslayer Team in the middle of the attack. As the hostiles dropped one after the other, the area was soon vacant of all threats.

"Confirm clear?" Aegis Lead called.

"Clear!' Mdas replied as he disabled the unknown device in the middle of the room using a USB Kill Stick. "Griffin, this is Midas. All hostiles neutralized, hostages are secure. Send the cavalry over."

"On its way. Good work, Ghosts." Mitchell replied. As Celestia righted herself and walked over to Nomad, she bowed respectfully.

"I presume you are some of Lt. Colonel Mitchell's men?" she asked.

"Correct. You can call me Nomad, I'm the leader of Kingslayer Team. That's Aegis and Hunter Team." Nomad replied. "How was our timing?"

"Your timing was superb." Celestia replied as Mitchell, the remaining Elements, Shining Armor, Cadance, and the remaining Guards filed in, followed by first responders who began treating and moving the hostages. As Mitchell approached, Celestia cleared her throat.

"Lt. Colonel Scott Mitchell, I presume?"

"You presume correctly." Mitchell replied as he offered a handshake, which Celestia accepted. "I'm glad to finally meet you in person."

"Indeed, though I believe pleasantries and diplomacy should wait until this threat is resolved." Celestia replied as she and Mitchell watched the Elements, Princess Luna Shining Armor, and Cadance enjoy a group hug before Twilight was moved aside by Lunar Guard medics. "Do you have any idea who these soldiers are?"

"Not a clue as of now." Mitchell replied before he called out, "Kozak, Rook, start searching the bodies, look for any intel you can find!"

"Check!"

"Yessir!"

As Mitchell and Celestia turned to the disabled device, which was being catalogued by Pepper and Sparrow, Celestia approached the object with a raised eyebrow.

"What is this?" she asked.

"Not sure." Sparrow replied as he scanned it with his Cross-Com. "It's some kind of radio and signal jammer, remote bomb and...video projector all built into one."

"Remote bomb? Video Projector?" Mitchell asked." Please tell me that…"

"I've already disarmed the detonator and the RDX payload inside, sir." Sparrow replied. "But as for the projector part, the only thing I could pull out of it was this SD card."

Mitchell took the offered human-made storage chip, and noticed the logo on the OpFor's unit patch was present on the chip as well.

"Kozak, it's all yours." Mitchell tossed the card to Kozak, who pocketed it. Mitchell then turned back to Celestia with a sigh "So, where do we go from here, Princess?"

"To my office, as we can discuss a further course of action there in private." Celestia said as a Solar Guard Squad came to her side. "Shall we?"

"Yep. Ghosts, you're tasked with security detail for now." Mitchell called out. "I'll be on comms if you need me."

As Mitchell and Celestia departed, the four lieutenants watched from afar, along with their leader.

"Do we fall back, sir?" Yellowleg asked.

"For now." the commander replied. "The Ghosts took this first round, but we'll get 'em the next time around. Wolves...fall out."

As the five of them rappelled down the castle wall and vanished into the night, the stars in the sky and the full moon were soon covered by clouds, leaving the horizon in darkness once again.

Author's Note

Update!