[sub][sub][h3]K I N G S [color=dc143c]G L A I V E[/color]  ||   [color=dc143c]N e r o[/color]   S a x o n   ||   [i]S a f e h o u s e[/i][/h3][/sub][/sub] [hr]   
	Nero grinned as he slowly buttoned his collared vest and Gideon entered the room. "Yeah, I'm sure that business was [i]real[/i] diplomatic, Carrahy," He replied to the man loudly without turning from his locker. Nero had always liked Gideon if only for the fact that he made it so much fun to pick at him. Most things a person said simply rolled off of the proud man's shoulders and the commander of the Kingsglaive appreciated an individual with thick skin. The locker clanged to a close just as Saga planted herself next to her superior to get her own uniform - and, of course, her sense of smell was as accurate as always. She immediately wrinkled her face and narrowed her eyes as she pulled on clothes. Internally, the man next to her was hanging his head in shame. 

	[color=royalblue]"Nero, I thought we talked about this addiction of yours... I figured you would have stopped by now."[/color] 

	Nero chuckled and folded his arms, turning to push his back against the locker like a high school jock. "And here I thought you'd be happy to see me, Saga," A hand reached around the back of his neck as he pulled away from the locker. "We gotta have our indulgences, right?" He made his way toward he large table in the middle of the room with a casual stroll. It was good to see that his team had not changed much. Despite the time between missions, the Kingsglaive members never failed to fall back into the old social routines. While anybody else would think that a highly elite military unit would behave more professionally, Nero was fine with the informal mentalities. In his mind, it would have been boring otherwise. He approached the table and plopped into a seat at one of the ends right near where Mirany had a spread of maps laid out. She was staring at them intently. 

	"All business, huh?" Nero joked. He made a note of what some of the maps actually were and took a guess at what she was trying to determine. "While I appreciate your efforts as usual, I think we're going by airship. Although, a topographical map could be a good idea come to think of it." Nero leaned over to stare at a map just as Blair entered the room. Or maybe she had already been there because the first thing she said was in defense of her commander's smoking habit. An appreciative smirk pulled at the corners of the man's mouth and he briefly turned in his chair to the blonde to give her a thumbs up. She was right after all; the dangerous activities of the Kingsglaive were not the type of operations to be taken lightly and a cigarette, by comparison, could no more harm than being impaled by an enemy soldier's blade. 

	A glorious smell wafted into the room just as the rest of the team finished getting changed and taking their seats at the massive table. Dianthe had always known her way to a man's heart. In she walked with culinary gifts for all and the smell of Capello's pizza was undeniable. [i]That'll teach that bastard to throw me out[/i], Nero thought as a personal-sized supreme slid down the table in his direction. Even having literally just eaten there was no denying the satisfying aroma of a masterfully crafted pizza. It was a thing of beauty. The opened box revealed the perfectly risen crust surrounding an even canvas of cheese and toppings. As the team finally situated themselves, Nero grabbed a slice before delving into the mission itself. 

	"Well... " Nero began, taking a large bite out of his food. "As much as I'd like to continue the pleasantries, seems like we're here for a reason after all. You all got the exact same message that I did so you know why we're here and it's a damn doozy. We're going to be infiltrating the fucking Palace of Ivalice. Me not knowing how to feel about that aside, it's going to be an extremely delicate operation. As the message said, if [i]anyone[/i] finds out we're there, it won't matter that they'll wonder who the Kingsglaive is, they'll take it as a declaration of war from Algareth. We could single-handedly turn these hostile tensions into the full-blown war they've been threatening to escalate into and that is a no-go," Nero finished his pizza in record time and stood from his chair, deciding instead to take an informal seat on the edge of the table itself. His face suddenly became series with narrowed eyes, folded arms, and a firm disposition. 

	"Just as the VP said, we cannot, under any circumstances, resort to our magic. Hell, we've rarely had to use it before and this isn't the type of operation where we take unnecessary risks. With that said, I'd also say our weapons should be a last resort. We don't want to kill anyone during peaceful negotiations and, only if comes to it, non-lethal force should be our first option. A car is going to take us to one of the stealth airships and we're gonna drop into the city from above. We're only doing this because, due to the peace talks, Ivalice has tightened border security and everyone entering or leaving is subject to scrutiny," Nero grabbed one of the topographical maps Mirany had spread on the table. One of them happened to be a bird's eye view of the palace itself - that type of information was public record. "We're gonna land in the courtyard just outside of a back entrance into the palace. It'll be the middle of the night so we'll have darkness as a cover, but considering the guard, we'll probably have to put some people to sleep immediately. I guess I'll give you guys the full plan when we get there." 

	The clock, high on a wall above a set of lockers, read 4:30 PM. It was time to depart.[hr][sub][sub][h3]J u n e   27th   ||   [i]1 1 : 5 0  PM[/i][/h3][/sub][/sub] [hr]
	Airships came in all different sizes and styles. While the air fleet of Teirland was generally considered to be the best engineered in all of Azalea, the stealth division of Algareth itself stood as the only manufacturer that could rival them. They had been specifically created to produce airships small and quiet enough to carry very few numbers of people at a time - ironically, engineers from Teirland had been secured through private contracts to help commission these technological marvels. The airship carrying the Kingsglaive cut the through the soft light of the moon and blackness of night at high speed, but made almost zero noise in doing so. The advanced propulsion system manipulated gravity to move the ship in any given direction rather than actually having the ship fly the air itself. It was the product of the magical science arm of the kingdom and it worked well enough that it became the standard for covert operations. The ship itself was a boxy design of solid ebony while four small wings protruded from the four edges where walls met roof and bottom to create a sort of "X" shape in the air. The propulsion system in the back radiated a light pink glow and the front of the vessel slimmed into a coned nose to help with aerodynamics. It was a simple looking craft in all honesty, but nothing fancy was required to be stealthy. 

	The pilot raised two fingers in Nero's direction as the group sat in the small boxed area, three members on each wall across from each other. There were monitors hanging from the ceiling directly behind the two pilots and a bevy of compartments above each row of heads. The exterior was deceptively small as the interior was big enough to house each team member and their choice of weapon. Nero adjusted the gauntlet on his right forearm before a click and whizzing noise sounded for a second. "I know it's been a while so I'll explain these things again," He said pointing to the gauntlet. "These are the same gravity deformation gauntlets we used back when... Well, back when [i]someone[/i] thought it'd be a good idea to escape via cliffside drop off rather than wait for a proper extraction." Nero gave Dianthe a playful side eye before continuing. "They work pretty simply. When we jump from the ship, all you have to do is snap your fingers and the gauntlet will generate a spherical energy field that will slow your fall until you land silently. The trick is just snapping at the right time. We're gonna need to free fall until we're close to the ground in order to get the drop on the knights that'll be standing guard in the courtyard." Nero stood and grabbed his lance that was leaning on the wall next to him, swinging it around to a metallic plate in the middle of his upper back where it magnetically attached. "Oh, and don't forget to pull up your damn masks." 

	The airship door automatically opened, jutting out a few inches first and sliding backwards, as the pilot signaled again that they'd reached the jump point. The craft came to an abrupt halt in the air and hovered. The palace, with its magnificent size, could be seen down below in the distance just as a light layer of clouds began moving over it. This semi-cloudy night had been a purposeful choice. As the rest of the team gathered their gear, Nero stepped up towards the opening and glanced back. "This is our first mission together in about half a year and it's a pretty important one at that so we have to take this seriously. That being said however... " He pulled up black fabric from under his vest and fit it around the lower half of his face, the partial mask coming to the bridge of his nose. "See you on the ground!" He chortled and took a gleeful dive. 

	The air was cool and refreshing as Nero held his body straight to gain the maximum speed on his descent. He narrowed his eyes to decrease the rushing air hitting them and as the spires of the palace grew closer, his heart pounded a bit more. He had missed this kind of exhilarating feeling for six months. Right on time, he snapped his fingers and a clear energy field distorted and warped the space around him, slowing his fall, but not as much as he needed it to - which was also a purposeful choice. The knights on the ground were separated around the walled courtyard; two stood by the door the team would need to get into, two stood on the left wall with about ten feet of space between them, one seemed to patrolling around a garden area on the right wall and one stood near the center of half-circled wall across the yard from the door. They were all far enough away to be taken out quietly. Nero slowed his descent a bit more, but still came in with enough speed to put a knee into the knight's armored back and force him to the ground. He flipped the surprised enemy around, opened his visor, and punched him square in the face with enough controlled force to knock him out before he could say a word. 

	One of the knights near the left side of the half-circled wall had been taken care of and since he knew that his team's timing was usually near perfect, he expected the rest of the small patrol to be handled momentarily when the rest of the team dropped in.