We had little time to plan the rescue operation, given the constraints of the situation, and availability of mission equipment was limited, so a great deal of improvisation was required. Our intelligence indicated that there were three agents in the target room with the hostage, one in an adjacent room, and one keeping covert watch in the hotel lobby. It was decided to use a zip-line approach from the outside, rather than go through the wall of an adjacent room as originally desired. The operation was to be split into two teams, one to observe from our hotel room, provide support if required, and operate the climbing equipment, and the other to enter the target room, neutralize any resistance, and secure the hostage. The basic elements of the plan were as follows:

• Climbing equipment was procured, as was our escape vehicle, prior to the operation, via Bob’s dummy identities; the vehicle was to be parked in the parking area adjacent to the front of the hotel building along our egress route
• Bob was able to provide the team with silenced slugthrower pistols and SMGs, and nanoweave protective vests, along with other un-silenced firearms at individual request
• ChEng Adler was tasked to hack a hotel keycard, to provide quick access to the target room; done in advance, and tested
• It was decided to perform the rescue operation at 03:00 Local Time, to provide night-cover for our egress, and to increase the likelihood that any hostiles present would be asleep, or otherwise less than fully-alert
• The “Window Team,” to consist of ChEng Adler, and Crewmen Ekala and Dae-Jung, would take up position at our hotel window, and observe the target room via hyperspectral scope, both before and during the clearing operation
• The “Door Team,” to consist of ChSecO Vik (myself), Crewmen Prudhomme and Reid, and Bob, were to take up position in the target hallway, having approached separately so as to not raise suspicion
• On Go-signal, Window Team was to fire the zip-lines, securing them above the target window, while observing the behavior of the occupants via the hyperspectral scope, expecting that any conscious occupants might detect the strike of the pitons and move to investigate
• Immediately after, Door Team was to enter the target room via the master-key, neutralize any enemy agents, and secure the hostage, who, according to our reconnaissance, was being held in the main bathroom; if heavy resistance was met, the Window Team was prepared to cross over to the target window via the zip-lines and provide flanking fire from the window, entering as necessary
• Once the room had been pacified, the Window Team was to secure the climbing rigs for rapid descent, while the Door Team secured the room and prepared themselves and the hostage for descent
• Both teams and hostage would then descend by twos to ground level, and egress to the escape vehicle

Pre-operation reconnaissance by the Window Team indicated that there were at least two more hostiles than initially observed, in another adjacent room, and that the agent in the lobby had come up as well. All hostiles appeared to be sleeping, except one guard in the target room. The heat-signature believed to be the hostage had not moved, remaining in the main bathroom of the target suite. As conditions in the target room had apparently not changed, the plan was not modified.

On the Go-signal, the Window Team fired the pitons and secured the zip-lines, reporting that the lone room-guard had responded to the sound, as expected. The Door Team then entered the room. The alert guard reacted quickly, and was shot multiple times, but appeared to have been wearing a concealed protective-vest; he managed to verbally alert the others to our presence, and return fire (one shot, only), but was shot in the head and extremities, incapacitating him before he could reach his communicator. The other hostiles, who had been asleep, attempted to reach their weapons and return fire, but being unarmored, were quickly neutralized. Overall, the room-clearing operation resulted in four hostiles dead or incapacitated, no injuries to the assault team, and taking 10-15 seconds at most.

The Window Team was immediately called over, and they prepared the descent rig, with Crewman Reid, being the most experienced climber, supervising the descent operation. The hostage was located in the main bathroom, bound, beaten, and determined to be heavily sedated, such that he would need to be carried; he was placed in a harness and was lowered to the ground first, along with Bob. Crewman Prudhomme, who was securing the hotel-room door, reported that a number of hostiles were gathering outside the door, presumably having awakened and approached from the adjacent rooms; the hostiles knocked, then called out what we assumed was a pass-challenge, at which point Crewman Prudhomme disabled the locking mechanism with pistol fire. ChSecO vik (myself) and Crewman Reid pulled rear-security for the descent operation, as the rest of the team descended, and then followed. The hostiles were in the process gaining forced-entry into the room as we escaped to the waiting vehicle, without further incident.

Although the operation itself went according to plan, and mostly without incident, the situation dictated some less-than-ideal conditions; for example, although all the hostiles that had seen us were, or were likely, deceased, the remaining enemy would probably be able to identify us via the hotel staff, or possibly security recordings, since masking our identities, given our limited capabilities, might have aroused suspicion amongst the hotel patrons (though our extensive use of Bob’s false identities and locally-cached equipment throughout the operation will likely prevent any connection to the ship). It would have been preferable to have had the opportunity to rehearse the operation beforehand; most of our prep-time was taken with gathering the needed gear. Once again, we were less-than-prepared for encountering armored foes, and likely should have attempted to procure armor-piercing ammunition, though the reduced take-down capability might have been an issue, and the matter was easily enough overcome. The room-clearing operation went relatively smoothly, no doubt, owing to our experience and training with boarding actions. That said, it could have gone more smoothly had we succeeded in taking out the lone sentry in one silenced shot, not allowing him to alert the other hostiles to our presence. It would be advisable to focus a bit more on initial accuracy in our upcoming boarding drills. With the exception of Crewman Reid, none of the crew are experienced climbers, tactical or otherwise, resulting in a near-catastrophe, as ChSecO Vik’s (myself) descender-coupling was improperly secured, and failed upon descent; were it not for his quick reflex and the timely intervention of Crewman Reid, the 13-story fall would surely have been fatal. This lack of experience should be remedied through proper training, in case we are called upon to perform similar missions in the future; inquiry will be made into the possibility of securing appropriate training gear and software.