Carnage City: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 6) (11 page)

I
mmediately after the
meeting with Anna ended Zach and Nora took the elevator and headed for the ground floor.

“Meeting after meeting,” Nora commented as the lift descended. “Though I guess that’s just part of being one of the leaders.”

Zach nodded. “Yeah. Thought sometimes I wonder what it would be like to go back to the old days.”

Back to the old days. Back to when Black Wolf was only a small company of about ten members, trying like everyone else to make their way in the harsh virtual world, with only an inkling about what they were doing. Back to when he only had to worry about little things, leaving him free to fight and explore alongside the rest.

“I think we already opened up Pandora’s Box a long time ago,” Nora said.

“Did we shut it in time to keep hope inside?” Zach said.

Nora laughed. “Not many people remember that part of the myth.”

“It’s kind of important, though.”

“Yeah, it is.”

Zach thought for a moment. “I wonder if there is some hope to get back to the smaller raids and stuff.”

“Hm?”

“We’ve been fighting Ragnarok for how long, a year? Maybe more? I’m betting that a lot of them are getting tired about slugging it out with us all the time.”

A thoughtful look crossed Nora’s face. “So, do you think they’ll want to call a truce, then?”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Zach shrugged. “Right now might not be the best time to ask them about it, because we’ve essentially got a dagger at their throats. They’ll probably want to get a stronger position before they’re willing to negotiate.”

“I think that’s true, actually. It’s all about power.”

Zach looked up, watching motion of the cables as the elevator descended. “We’re going to have to be careful that we don’t have blinders on. I’m actually surprised we haven’t made any major contacts with the other hubs.”

“From what I’ve heard, they’re all dealing with their own problems. We’re not the only ones slugging it out with a competitor.”

Maybe, but what if the situation changed? Zach felt the Hydra Alliance was particularly vulnerable, since most of their fighting forces were concentrated north of Old Chicago. If they ran into trouble from certain directions, say from the Dallas or New York hubs, they could end up in serious trouble.

And the player base wasn’t looking to get any smaller anytime soon. The rest of the North American hubs outside of the United States were finally online: Mexico had hubs in Chihuahua City, Monterrey, Guadalajara and Mexico City, while Canada had Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, and a combined Vancouver/Seattle hub.

Other servers were coming on line as well. The European section was up and running now, along with a combined Korea/Japan server in Asia and an Australia/New Zealand one in Oceania. The southern Africa one would be coming online soon, followed by the Chinese and Indian sections. Eventually they would all connect together in one seamless world.

That meant a lot of potential adventures, along with many more possible foes. In fact, if they were able to come up with intercontinental transportation, companies on opposite sides of the globe could end up helping each other.

“Switching gears a little, I think there’s a little issue with the company we need to discuss,” Nora said.

“Oh?”

“The leadership thing. You’re not always going to be available, and neither am I. I
can
step in for you if I need to sometimes, but I don’t think we want to rely on it. So, given that, what do we do about it?”

Zach frowned. “Well, we could always nominate someone else for leadership when we’re not available.”

“It pretty much has to be one of the originals,” Nora said. “Selene or Danny are the obvious choices. Maybe even Xavier. He has it in him to be a leader of a large group.”

“Maybe, but I’m not sure I’d want to put him in command over Selene and Danny. That would just make an awkward situation, I think.”

“Mm, true.”

“So, I think it comes down to Selene and Danny, which I can see good and bad points to both,” Zach said. “Selene has the more dominant personality, and she knows what she’s doing. She’s a really good motivator, but sometimes I think she’s a little too aggressive.”

“Aggression isn’t a bad thing in our line of work,” Nora pointed out.

“Yeah, but I think there’s a big difference between being aggressive and being foolhardy, and sometimes she’s dancing on that line.”

“And Danny’s more levelheaded,” Nora said as the elevator stopped at the bottom floor. “But he’s not exactly great at politicking. At least Selene has her dominant personality to get what she wants.”

Zach nodded as they stepped off and headed for the exit. “And there’s the dilemma. Which do we go with?”

“Are you looking for a replacement?”

Zach thought about that for a moment. “I’m not sure,” he finally admitted. “I don’t want to leave Black Wolf, that’s for sure. But I don’t want to drag us down either, if I can’t find the time to do this properly.”

“Yeah, I understand that. Actually, I feel the same way too,” Nora told him. “I don’t want to put myself in a position of responsibility that I can’t do.”

They headed to the two ATVs parked outside and mounted up. Zach opened up a channel so they could continue the conversation while they were driving.

“Maybe we should ask for an outside opinion?” he suggested. “Anna or Liz might be able to give us some good perspective, since they’ve seen us work together, but they’re not part of our company.”

“Maybe, but we might want to keep it in house,” Nora said.

“Do you not think they’ll give us a good opinion?”

“Oh, I trust their opinions, but is it really going to be what’s best for Black Wolf?” Nora pointed out. “They’re focused on stealth, so they might not favor aggressive actions. And that might hurt us, since we’re a very different unit.”

That made sense to him. All companies in Ghost Battalion were capable of stealth, but Redd Foxx was head and shoulders above the rest. Black Wolf was oriented for far more straightforward combat, acting as an elite rapid assault force, capable of taking critical objectives with lightning fast attacks.

In those situations aggression served them well, because they were able to take the fight to the enemy before they even knew what was happening. Sometimes they took heavy losses in the process, like they had done at the tower, but Zach still counted that as a win. If they were any more hesitant, then they might have ended up losing those battles instead.

“We could just ask them and then just not take their advice if we don’t think it’s right for us.”

“Agreed, but let’s make sure we do it pretty soon, if we do. We don’t want our command structure in limbo when the next attack comes.”

Zach sighed. “Oh boy, that. I have a feeling this meeting is going to be a whole lot of fun.”

“We’ll be fine, and anyhow, it’s not like we’re doing anything complicated. Hold the tower until we push through the district. Simple enough.”

Maybe, but they also had units from three different battalions vying for resources, and teamwork in those kind of situations wasn’t always smooth. Everyone wanted to have the advantages on their section of line, sometimes to the detriment of the others.

Zach had worked with Dragon and Magic before, but he wondered how those two were going to get along amongst themselves. Neither had worked with each other before the assault on the Cudahy District, and he wondered if Magic, the newest battalion, was going to be pushed around. Or, possibly worse, they would push back, causing even more friction.

“Are you panicking?”

“Huh?”

“You suddenly went silent. Are you worrying about something?” Nora asked.

“Oh.” Zach paused for a second. “I’m just worrying over what might happen if everyone’s at each other’s throats. Probably just my imagination.”

“You seem to think that Dragon wants to fight everyone.”

“That’s pretty standard for them.”

“Cody’s smart enough to get along for the good of the alliance,” Nora said. “Plus, even if he does decide to get ornery, he has Bryce to reign him in. And Lex isn’t one to cause problems either.”

“Which leaves us, the troublemakers,” Zach said with a smile. “I wonder if they still remember that time we defied the military council’s orders?”

“You don’t forget something like that. Of course, that’s probably not going to happen right now. We really only have one choice at the moment.”

Zach nodded. They had to take Milwaukee, no matter what the cost. They couldn’t allow Ragnarok to get their hands on the city, and Hydra could use the resources as well, especially since they had given up Green Bay to concentrate their forces here.

But the fight could take months, even a year or more. Zach had been at the forefront of the invasion of Indianapolis, but this was an entirely different beast. The AI wasn’t a pushover by any means, but it was at least somewhat predictable and not overly aggressive. Combat ebbed off and on in Indianapolis, with sporadic assaults interspaced by periods of complete quiet. As long as they were quick, the Hydra Alliance could dictate the pace of battle.

Milwaukee, however, remained a completely different obstacle because of the presence of an enemy player alliance. Ragnarok fought much like them. They weren’t predictable by any stretch of the imagination, often coming up with tricks and gambits that Hydra hadn’t even though of until they were on the receiving end. They were well armed, and most notably of all, they were completely relentless.

That last fact made all the difference, because Ragnarok exercised relentless aggression on both the tactical and strategic level. Zach had faced Ragnarok attacks dozens of times, and each one had been an absolutely nerve-wracking experience. Even in the face of heavy casualties, even when faced with a determined foe in a strong position, Ragnarok troops would simply not give up. They’d keep coming until they were defeated, or they broke through.

It seemed suicidal, almost foolhardy at first, but to him it was actually a testament to their confidence and their skill. Their assault on the Ghost Line around Green Bay had been performed under horrific conditions for the attackers, facing defenses that would shatter almost any company in World at War. Yet Ragnarok had managed to smash their way through with a combination of smart tactics, fighting skill and sheer determination.

They had seen some of that on display here in the Cudahy District, but even worse was their use of aggression on the strategic level. Unlike in Indianapolis, there was no rest for the weary, no respite. Large-scale attacks came and went, but in between them there was always fighting almost every hour of the day. Most of it amounted to little more than skirmishing, but the threat remained, ever present. Hydra couldn’t afford to let their guard down for a second, lest their enemy get the drop on them.

This place was truly a battlefield, Zach thought as he and Nora pulled up next to Hydra HQ. Not merely a place where they fought for a few hours, not just someplace where two sides shot off some rounds at each other, but a battlefield, a place where they fought tooth and nail for days, weeks, months, even years, bleeding each other white.

“Looks like we’re the last ones,” Nora commented as they dismounted. “At least we have a decent excuse.”

“Ah well. They can’t really start the meeting without us,” Zach said. Black Wolf might be the only unit from Ghost Battalion in the district, but they were also a founding company of the alliance, whose opinion couldn’t simply be ignored. Even those with some disdain for hierarchy gave them a bit of respect for it.

Bryce greeted them as they stepped inside the briefing room. “Good, you’re here. Let’s get started.”

Zach looked around the room, trying to get a measure of the faces around him. He spotted Cody and C.J. standing next to Bryce, Lex and Evy in one corner, but many of the others he couldn’t pinpoint by name.

He didn’t know why that surprised him, though. Hydra had become a sprawling alliance with over a thousand members, and there was no way one person could keep track of them all. That was why they had the military council, so that the battalion commanders and other representatives could make decisions on behalf of their troops.

“OK then, let’s get started,” Bryce said. “We’re going to be laying out the strategic plan for the next phase of the operation to take the district.”

Zach leaned up against the wall, wondering just what their plans might entail. Not that he had much to speculate about, though. Like Nora said, Black Wolf would be tasked with holding the tower until further notice.

Cody stepped forward to speak. “We’ve regained most of the ground we lost in the initial Ragnarok counterattack, which leaves about half the district in enemy hands. The biggest difference is that we’ve traded control of much of the waterfront for holdings in the rest of the city.”

“I’d say that’s to our advantage,” Lex said. “They have to watch out for an amphibious assault.”

“Even though it’s not coming,” Nora pointed out.

Zach nodded in agreement. Most of the battalion’s river craft were at Waukegan, sitting at anchor because they were of little use right now. Even if they wanted to activate them, most of the Raven Company crews were assigned to the helicopter squadrons. Besides, going up against a prepared beach was suicidal.

“Naturally, although they still have to guard against it,” Cody said. “However, our main objective won’t be the waterfront. Instead, we’ll be focusing our efforts on taking the western side of the district, up to gaining the central capture point and then consolidating our hold on it.”

“We have to hold it for thirty minutes,” Evy said. “That’s a long time for them to launch a counterattack to take it back. Are we sure we can do that?”

“We’re not going to attack all at once,” Bryce spoke up. “If we go for broke from the beginning, you’re right. We’re not going to be able to take and hold the capture point without being thrown back. But if we push forward bit by bit, we can launch our attack when we’re in a position of strength.”

Bold words, Zach thought, but could they actually pull it off? He personally thought they’d need a strong reserve to immediately dig in around the newly captured objective, but that would mean taking away critical troops from the main attack. Could they even get to the capture point without them?