Through the glowing, translucent energy shield separating the hangar from the outside, the strike force could see the chaos start to unfold. Their Blockade Runner came in quick and low over the mountains, much to the surprise of the Keep’s defenders who saw the warship suddenly approaching over the horizon. At the speed their ship could move, they hardly had time to raise the alarm before the vessel was upon them. With a well-defined plan to follow, the ship’s crew carried it out quickly and efficiently. Immediately, the Blockade Runner fired a pair of plasma torpedoes at the city’s outer walls, blasting a sizable hole in the city’s defenses near to the planned drop zone. Anti-aircraft emplacements within the city opened fire to start pounding the ship’s shields. It was at that point when the defenders were likely marking the ship for the nearest heavy cannon to eliminate, only to find it in no condition to fire, and its garrison unresponsive. There were other, similar cannons situated in other positions around the city, but at the ship’s current altitude and position, only the one they had sabotaged would have had a shot. Even still, their shields could only handle ground fire from the city for so long, so this insertion would need to be quick. 

Being that the Blockade Runner was not specialized for ground assault, it had no grav lift for quick deployment, so they would have to settle for phantom drops. Aegis team’s respective vehicles were already locked in place to the phantoms above them via their grav lifts, so once the hangar’s shield dropped, they were among the first out the door. The first wave of phantoms exited on the side of the ship opposite to the keep so the Blockade Runner’s shields could help protect them from the anti-aircraft fire. They were positioned directly above the drop zone, so it hardly took more than a few seconds for them to get to ground. Heavy armor, like scorpions, were dropped in the front, with wraiths behind. Lighter vehicles, like ghosts and warthogs, were initially dropped behind the heavy armor, though they were agile vehicles that could easily reposition as needed to support the main armor column. Shadow troop transports carried the majority of their infantry support and would move behind the armor at least until they were inside the walls. Banshees from both sides were being deployed for close air support. For now, the Blockade Runner’s point defense could help fight off opposing aircraft, but it would not be staying for too long. 

The city had been caught off guard, as evidenced by the lack of defenses outside the walls. No doubt, the garrison was already deploying to meet them, but right now they had a chance to get to a better position before they faced resistance. Right now, the only incoming fire on the ground was coming from four rapid-fire plasma turrets positioned on the top of the walls. They were still at long range, so the incoming fire was mostly inaccurate, though they would become more dangerous the closer they came. They were completely in the open at the moment, so priority was to get to the breach before the enemy could respond, but it may have been wise to put some attention on the turrets along the way.