Carnage City: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 6) (20 page)

They had done all the could to stem the assault. Now it was just a matter of whether the concrete and steel would hold up against the coming onslaught.

T
he thunder
of explosions started to die away outside, and Zach could finally breath a sigh of relief. The tower had held firm against the onslaught of enemy firepower, ranging from artillery shells to bombs, to a rain of rockets.

He hadn't been certain their position would survive something like this, even with all the assurances from Hephaestus Company. The tower had shaken and rumbled under every impact, making him wonder whether the next hit would be the one to bring the whole thing crashing down around them. But despite his concerns, they were still alive in here.

That was all well and good for the time being, but they had other problems to worry about. After their last failure Ragnarok had to know that Black Wolf had a supply line to the outside world. That meant no more easy kills for them, because their enemy would approach things in a far more cautious fashion. When they finally showed up again, though, they'd bring the hammer with them, and Zach wasn't sure they could hold off a Ragnarok onslaught from all sides. Even dealing with them from just one direction was a tough prospect.

And then there was the other issue, the mission that battalion command had charged them with. Zach understood why they had done it, but he had serious doubts as to whether they could actually pull it off. Could they do it with little more than a squad, or would they have to bring along more troops? And if they had to do that, who would they get to defend the tower?

He didn't know the answers, but he wanted several different opinions on the matter, so he assembled the squad and platoon leaders along with Miko in the command center and explained their predicament.

“Man, they don't like giving us any easy jobs, do they?” Javy said after he had finished. “A commando raid into enemy territory when we're already cut off and surrounded?”

Xavier was looking over the map of their target. “Not to mention this place looks like it'll be heavily guarded, or at least hard to get into. You sure that they can't just blast it with the artillery?”

“They already tried that multiple times,” Zach confirmed. “Nothing more than scratches.”

“Well, that sucks.”

Ethan pointed at something. “More importantly, that's on the other side of the district from us. It's closer to the shoreline than the tower, so how are we getting over there?”

“I assume the tunnel?” Gavin said.

“That's probably our best bet,” Nora agreed.

“But then how are we getting past the front lines?” Ethan argued. “We're going to have to sneak through the enemy lines, avoid any patrols that might be lurking, get to the target, get inside the target, blow everything up and then escape. That's a pretty tall order.”

“Could we infiltrate by boat?” Logan suggested.

Selene shook her head. “That's probably not a good idea. Even since we pulled off the amphibious assault during the initial attack they've been watching the shorelines closely. The only way to get onshore is to blast through some of the defenses with firepower, and we don't want to do that.”

Zach nodded. Lighting up an enemy position completely defeated the purpose of a stealth infiltration.

“Here's a better question,” Ryan spoke up. “Who's going and how many troops are they going to have? And likewise, who's staying behind and holding the tower?”

“That's undecided as of now,” Zach said. “Thought about this, anyone? Opinions?” He looked over at Danny and Selene. “One of you is probably going to be spearheading the raid. What do you two think?”

A thoughtful look crossed Danny's face. “Well, you said that Redd Foxx is going to use this spot as a launching pad for their attack, right?”

“Right.”

“Then we can use them as backup. I think it's safe to assume that Ragnarok knows we have a supply line to the outside world. So do we really need to hide that anymore? We can bring in Redd Foxx to reinforce our position and free up troops for the operation.”

“Speaking of them, why aren't they the ones assigned to the commando raid?” Gavin asked with a frown. “Seems like it'd be a lot easier than shifting us around.”

“Because they want time to prepare for their attack,” Nora said. “To the rest of command we're just sitting here holding our ground, so we're not heavily involved in the offensive operation. That gives us time to focus on preparing the raid to take out the jammer.”

“Huh, as if.”

Zach held his hands up disarmingly. “I know, I know, once again we're in one of the worst positions possible, but that's just who we are, isn't it? We're always in the thick of the toughest fighting, right?”

“Oh, I'm not complaining about that. I'm just wondering whether they're making the right choices to win the battle.”

Zach could sympathize, though part of the problem was the differing perspectives between low level and high level command. What could be viewed as disastrous by one could be a godsend for the other, mostly because they were looking at different things. Tactical command focused on a specific area, like the fight around the tower. While that might seem to be going badly from their perspective, from a strategic standpoint everything worked out splendidly. Ragnarok was being tied down, forced to fight a strong position and waste a considerable amount of resources.

It was up to the mid level commanders to bring the two disparate sides together, and that was one of the place where Hydra's leadership truly shined. They had plenty of excellent company commanders who could balance between the tactical and strategic. Was he among them? Zach was hesitant to say, but he'd need to perform at that level to ensure his company survived the coming fights.

“Anyhow,” Danny continued, “if we bring in Redd Foxx to help us hold our positions we could free up a platoon or more for the raid.”

“We're going to have to ask about it, but that seems like our best bet right now,” Zach agreed.

“Again, how are we getting behind their lines?” Ethan asked.

Miko leaned over the map table and zoomed in on a spot. “Well, we could always sneak through a squad at a time during some of the less active hours. We could find a quiet spot back there and hang out until the right time to launch the operation.”

“Won't we run the risk of getting spotted by snipers?” Gavin pointed out.

“That's always a risk when we're traveling aboveground in this city,” she shrugged. “We can do our best to avoid them, but it's not going to be foolproof.”

“What about going underground then?” Logan asked.

“Do we have a route?” Danny said.

Selene spoke up. “Oh gosh, we do.” She walked over to the map table and made some adjustments, then fed some information in from her wrist menu. “I completely forgot about this until now, but we might have a way to get behind them without running into too much resistance.”

Zach remembered as well as soon as he saw it. The storm drain route from the center of the district out to the lakeshore. That would serve nicely, he thought to himself.

“How well is that reconnoitered, though?” Miko asked. “Didn't you take just one trip through without really seeing what was on the other side?”

“Yeah, but it shouldn't be too complicated. We just have to climb out of the drainage tunnel through the boat wreck and onto the shore. Oh, and we need to keep an eye out for those frog-things in the water.”

“This is sounding kind of complicated,” Ryan said with a frown.

Maybe, Zach thought as he looked back down at the map, but it might also be their best shot to get where they needed to go. Gavin's concerns were merited, he believed. The enemy had plenty of lookouts and snipers scattered through their lines, and they had keen eyesight. Even Black Wolf's stealth skills might not hide them from their gaze, and once they were discovered the game was up.

But the tunnel could eliminate those problems and provide them with relatively safe passage for a long distance. Even with the dangers posed at the other end, being able to advance completely under cover was probably worth it.

“This looks like our best bet,” Zach said. “And since you guys have experience in those environments, I'm going to put Alpha Wolf on the raiding team.”

“Guess battalion command isn't the only one that likes to give us the nice assignments,” Javy said. The others laughed.

“Do we need more than one platoon?” Danny asked.

Zach shook his head. “I don't think so. There's a tipping point where increasing the number of troops in the force will increase our chances of being discovered. Besides, even if we have Redd Foxx here we still need crews for the anti-tank guns. And since Bravo Wolf has the most experience, you guys should stay behind.”

“Always nice to have our skills recognized,” Danny said with a smile.

“You mean, always nice to be able to hide behind cover,” Selene snarked back.

“Well, that too,” he grinned.

Zach held his hand up for quiet and looked around.

“Alright everyone, you know the score. If we pull this off we can break the deadlock and capture the district. If not, well, we're stuck fighting here for a while longer. I don't know about you, but I'm getting tired of seeing the same rubble every day.”

“We'll pull it off,” Selene said.

Zach nodded. “Yeah, we will. But we need to remember our trump cards. Recon, speed, stealth, aggression. That's what's going to break the enemy. I'll do my job to make sure the other companies work with us. It's up to you guys to make sure our company holds up our end of the bargain. Are we clear?”

A chorus of yeses greeted him.

“
L
ong time no see
,” Robbie said as he extended his hand.

Zach reached out and shook it. “No kidding,” he replied. “Though that's not too surprising, given that we've been operating within the city for a while.”

Robbie nodded. “Much as I'd like to give close air support, we're not doing anything until we have a better way of taking out the antiaircraft defenses Ragnarok has planted around the area.”

“Can't blame you either. It's not all that bad for us since we're in a fixed position. We have plenty of fire support from the artillery. It's if we had to cover a wide expanse of ground away from friendly lines that we'd have trouble.”

“Ah, I get you. Still, it'll be good when we're able to operate as one unit again.”

He climbed back into the pilot's seat of his helicopter and motioned for Zach to follow. Zach quickly strapped himself in and prepared for liftoff.

He was going to meet Anna at their headquarters in the western forest, and he had traveled to the relatively safe fields south of the city for a pickup. Zach could have simply messaged her, but he wanted to impress the gravity of the situation on her. After all, none of this would work if Black Wolf didn't get reinforcements to help them hold the tower.

Zach activated his radio link to be used as an intercom. “So, how have things been on your end?”

“Pretty standard, actually. Nothing terribly exciting. We've mostly been giving backup to Barghest and Spectre when they need it, and even that's been just running supplies to them. We have coordinated with them for a few raids, but nothing major.”

“Ah, kind of the opposite of what we've been doing.”

“Yeah, I heard you guys were cut off from the rest of the troops when the counterattack came. How'd you manage to slip through?” Robbie asked as he lifted the Hornet off the ground.

“We have a supply tunnel running between our positions and the rear areas,” Zach told him.

“Ah, that makes sense. Still, you're used to fighting behind enemy lines with little support so it isn't all that bad, right?”

“I'd say so, yeah. At least we have fire support. But at the same time, Ragnarok's dropping the hammer on us too.”

“Can't imagine that's fun, even if you're in a strong position.”

“Not really, though it's certainly not boring either,” Zach said. “Honestly, I'm kind of hoping that we can break through and take the rest of the district. We have so many more to capture, and I don't want to give Ragnarok time to recover.”

“Neither do I. Actually, if we take Cudahy soon I'd want us to go after the next district to the west. You know, the one with the airfield?”

Zach frowned. “I'm guessing you have a specific reason for that?”

“Well, the biggest problem we have right now is that we don't have any good forward bases to operate from close to the city. Plus, there's a bunch of NPC fighters based there, and that makes flying above part of the city completely suicidal. At least for helicopters.”

“So you want to take them out, right?” Zach said.

There had been talk of blasting the airfield with artillery several times, but after thorough reconnaissance that idea had been completely scrapped. Most of the aircraft hangers were actually bunkers, buried deep underground and impervious to everything but the heaviest shells.

“Well yes, but if we can capture that it's a forward operating base, and that cuts down the risk of us getting jumped by enemy fighters. And once that's gone I'd be a lot more willing to risk our helos over the city.”

“Even with the antiaircraft guns?”

“There's always antiaircraft guns,” Robbie said. “It's just a risk we have to take, but we have ways of dealing with them. We don't have them for fighters.”

“Point taken. So, you're going to try to sell that to the military council?”

“Yeah, though I'm guessing that's not going to be easy. As usual I can probably get Anna and Karen on my side, but the rest? I'm guessing there's going to be a lot of arguments over that.”

“Aren't there always?”

“Yeah, true.”

“It might not mean much, but I'll go to bat for you as well,” Zach told him.

“Thanks.”

It might be thinking too far ahead now, but Zach could see reasons for choosing Robbie's option. While some of the others might want to take the shoreline districts or some of the larger areas, getting their hands on the airfield would grant them close-air support, something they were desperately lacking. When paired with their already formidable artillery it could provide them with a serious punch.

“First we have to take care of Cudahy,” Robbie said, breaking into his thoughts.