To Steal a Secret

21.20---12th-November-1014
Through a secret door behind her cupboard, Ansa enters the labyrinth beneath Hjortland.

She walks for twenty minutes before reaching a ladder. She begins to knock on the trapdoor above. Twice in a row followed by another two. Someone answered, three knocks followed by one. She unlocked the latch on her side while they, theirs.

As the door opens, three guns points directly at her. Yet she paid them no fear nor fright. The three soldiers lowered their weapons as she climbed above.

Inside, a location known as Site Kilo, stood several soldiers. They guard the entrance to the hidden facility. She walks to the command room. Dozens of fighters stood to salute her as she passed.

Then she opens a steel door. Inside, a brown deer and a blue pony stood around a map table. It paints the city of Hjortland in excruciating detail. Pawns of deer and changeling alongside pins dotted the large map.

Major Padded Mane began, "Will you do it?" He's anxious, she could tell.

"Only if Equestria prove they can win. We're killing an admiral, not a general." She replied sternly.

The Equestrian major closes his eyes and exhaled in relief. Opening them back, he replied, "Well have I got the news for you! I just got word, we destroyed an entire division at Whinnyapolis. This'll improve coordination with the Crystal Empire to the north and allow us to counter attack deeper into..." He stops. Looking at the unimpressed Olenian general, his ear dropping.

"You took back a city. That doesn't prove anything." Ansa dully said.
"It's a major supply hub, we could stage further assault," he replied.
"It's a city, you took it back. By tomorrow they'll launch a counter offensive. They'll lose one division today, you'll lose ten tomorrow. Give me more." At this point, Ansa is very much irritated. In her eyes, this proves no point of Equestrian ability to wage an offensive capable of threatening the hegemony.

"It's a critical part in connecting with the Crystal Empire, by taking the city, we'll be able to threaten." He stops, sighing. "Look, Princess Luna is forming a plan. I asked, trust me I pleaded and begged for any information, anything, that could help you. But she won't tell me much. Please understand, the enemy has spies all over the place, she can't risk a leak. But I can tell you this. The Changeling are overstretched. The long Canterlot salient is reaching near to the sea. We outnumber them maybe three to one. She promised me they can cut the spearhead off."

The room went quiet for a moment. She looks toward the map in front of her, then the people in the room before looking up on the light above. She thinks and weigh. The gears in her head grinds and churns. Until she looks back toward the major.

"Get your troops ready."