The pod itself was fully automated. There was no pilot or crew. It was only large enough to accommodate its propulsion system and the payload. Its stealth capabilities were pretty much all the protection it had.

Yasuko found herself remembering the time she first infiltrated the Capital, stowed away in a cargo container on the space elevator. It seemed like so long ago, but it hadn't even been a year. She was definitely better prepared for her war on the Celestials this time, but she knew better than to underestimate Sturla. After everything he'd done to become Emperor, there was nothing he wouldn't do to keep hold of the reins of power.

The pod shook as it made contact with the outer wall of the Capital. They would have to wait until the breaching tube cut its way to the interior. When the pod attached, it was supposed to emit an EMP that would disrupt communication and security equipment in the immediate area. Because the gap in coverage would just as easily alert the enemy to their location as tripping an alarm, there were five decoy pods per team to make them more difficult to pinpoint. Also, if necessary, it gave them more options for means of extraction.

Green light. Time to deploy. Yasuko pressed the button to activate her optic camouflage. The breaching tube was only wide enough for them to exit single file. There was no up or down as far as the interior of the pod was concerned. There were three panels with eight seats each. Once the eight men of one panel would deploy, then the interior would rotate to the next panel to keep them all oriented relative to the target. Yasuko and Lowen were the last to deploy.

To prepare for the mission, Yasuko and Lowen had been training with this team for the past three weeks so they could function effectively as a unit. Benitez was rather high-ranking to be a squad leader, but because Yasuko was a special asset and because the squad needed a leader who outranked Lowen, Benitez was pulled from his normal duties in company operations for this mission. In general, Imperial Commandos tended to have a higher rank than their counterparts in the conventional forces because you already had to have a fair amount of experience before you were accepted and the sort of work they did tended to earn quicker promotions.

Yasuko needed to remember her discipline. She'd put a lot of time and effort into preparing for this mission and she couldn't let herself be a burden to the others. She had to pull her own weight or else she'd never get her shot at Sturla.

The Capital consisted of a central axis with five 'slices' that contained the residential blocks. All the essential systems and the Forbidden and Royal Precincts were located in the axis, so that was where three of the five teams would focus their efforts. There wasn't much point in slogging through the crowded market districts when it wasn't mission-critical. They could also bypass the Peacemen and the household troops. Leave that to the Marines that would come after them.

The lenses in the hoods of their suits had a special filter that allowed them to see each other even with the optic camo activated. It allowed them to communicate via hand signals and maintain radio silence.

Before they could work their way up into the Forbidden Precinct, their job was to disable external communications. Even if the Celestials called the surface for reinforcements, it wouldn't be much of a threat as the troop carriers would be easy pickings for the Imperial fleet, but Admiral Lavrov wanted silence for the duration of this mission. He wanted the first thing the Celestials would hear from the Capital was the announcement that the pretender had been overthrown. Yasuko wondered what kind of look would be on the faces of the Celestials in their floating cities. That would be worth seeing, though not as much as the look on Sturla's face when she would shove her blade up under his ribcage.

Most of Central Division would be concentrated in the Forbidden Precinct, leaving fewer defenders for the core systems in the Central Block and almost nothing for the secondary systems. As far as the Celestials' experience was concerned, assassination was always a bigger threat than sabotage, but there was a real possibility that Sturla knew better than to rely on the conventional knowledge of the Celestials and had redistributed his forces.

The idea was not to engage until they reached the objective. The defenders knew they were there, but they didn't know exactly where they were. If the commandos started neutralizing personnel, Central would know where to send its men. Well-equipped as they were, they were severely outnumbered and couldn't afford to get bogged down. Still, it felt weird passing by technicians and the occasional Guardsman on patrol as they made their way through the corridors.

To avoid triggering pressure sensors in the floor, they had repulsors attached to their feet that made the barest contact. You didn't walk so much as glide along the surface. Yasuko was thankful for all the drilling they did. Lowen was still a bit clumsy, but at least he could keep his balance. For all they knew, there could be sensors in the walls too.

Feniks 5 had six objectives to secure before infiltrating the Forbidden Precinct. None of them were mission-critical, but they would facilitate things for the other teams. The goal was to completely overwhelm the Capital's systems rather than just doing the bare minimum. It was a great psychological tool. The Celestials were too used to being the top of the food chain. They thought they were untouchable. This would hit them like a bucket of icewater.

Contrary what they were expecting, it turned out that the Imperial Guard was out in force. Unless he was sacrificing the defenses of the Forbidden Precinct, Sturla must have recalled expeditionary troops from the frontier. With so many roving patrols, it wasn't easy avoiding contact. Mop-up afterwards was going to be a pain, but at least it wouldn't be her pain, Yasuko thought.

Their first objective was a weapons control substation for the Central Block's point defenses. When they reached the substation, everyone took up their positions and waited. When Benitez gave the signal, Bartok the engineer hacked the door, then Cruzado and Jalil moved in. The people inside were neutralized in a matter of seconds. Next Odingo installed a device they called a slave key to take control of the equipment and finally the door was busted so that the only way the Celestials were getting in was with cutters.

That was one down. Five more to go. If things continued to go this well, they would be in the Forbidden Precinct in no time. Yasuko's hand reached for her sword, gripping at the hilt in eager anticipation of the moment her blade would be at Sturla's neck. She could hardly wait.