Carnage City: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 6) (21 page)

“Right.”

A few minutes later they touched down just outside the forest at Raven Company's landing zone. Zach could see Typhoons and Hornets parked under camouflage and cover, hidden from prying eyes and air attack. Ragnarok would certainly dive bomb them if they got the chance, and even the antiaircraft guns ringing the field wouldn't be able to completely stop them.

“End of the line for my end,” Robbie said.

Zach unstrapped himself and climbed out of the Hornet's cabin. “Thanks for the ride,” he said with a wave, and then headed toward the forest. He would need to figure out another way back to Milwaukee when he was finished here.

Zach checked in with Raven's quartermaster and borrowed an ATV for his trip. A short drive and a few minutes later, and he was at the headquarters for this section of line.

Like most others, this one was busy. Troops from Redd Foxx, Sacred Sword and White Tiger hurried about their duties. Zach noted that the White Tiger outsiders seemed to be integrating well, or at least it appeared. Then again, that wouldn't be very difficult considering they were only sitting in a defensive position, facing lightly-held enemy territory on the other side of a river.

“Zach, good to see you,” David's voice rang out.

Zach turned and greeted him. “Likewise. How are things on your end?”

“Better than yours, I'm guessing. You're looking for Anna, right?”

“Yeah, I'm going to take her from you. That, and the rest of Redd Foxx.”

David nodded. “Much as I don't want to lose the troop strength, you guys probably need them more. Come on, I'll take you to her.”

They passed through the field headquarters, little more than a series of tents and dugouts stocked with communications equipment and supplies. Zach wondered for a moment if they had a phone system installed, but that thought disappeared as they reached their destination. Anna stood alone inside one of the tents, looking over a map. She straightened up as the approached.

“Well, this is probably important, I'm guessing,” Anna said after they exchanged greetings. “I assume it's something that you couldn't say over the messaging system, right?”

Zach shrugged. “I probably could have, but I wanted to talk to you in person. This is pretty important, actually.”

That got her attention. “OK, so I'm guessing it has to do with us moving back into the city, right?”

“Right. More specifically, we need to you to it as soon as possible.”

David shifted and then turned. “I'll leave you two to discuss this by yourselves.”

Zach turned. “No, wait. Do you mind staying?”

David looked back with a confused look on his face.

“I don't mind staying, no, but isn't this something that you should be discussing within your battalion?”

“I'd like an outside opinion, actually,” Zach said. “Someone who doesn't normally deal with our line of work.”

“OK then, what do you need, exactly? Advice?”

“Yup. I'd like you to tell me whether anything we're doing sounds completely crazy.”

“Pretty much everything you guys do sounds completely crazy to the rest of the alliance. That seems to be your job,” David pointed out.

“I mean, crazier than usual.”

“Oh.”

“What have you gotten yourselves into this time?” Anna asked.

Zach gave her a weary smile. “Oh, don't you know? I only seem to get the best jobs for us.”

N
ora looked
down at the map table, feeding in the information that had been brought to her over the last few days.

“OK, is that everything?”

“That's everything,” Miko told her. “Although I don't know why I'm getting stuck acting like a glorified courier.”

Nora smiled and continued working. They had a lot of data to sift through, and even with the capabilities of the map table it was going to take a while.

“Looks like we have all the data from all of the scout teams,” Liz said. “We can start compiling it all now and making a plan.”

Redd Foxx had arrived in Cudahy two days ago, bringing much needed reinforcements and firepower along with them. With far more defenders in the tower, Black Wolf was able to perform other missions outside their immediate area of responsibility.

They were still slated to perform the commando raid to find and destroy the enemy jamming equipment, and everyone involved wanted to have as much information as possible before they launched the operation. Even before the alliance had been formed, Redd Foxx and Black Wolf had always placed a heavy emphasis on reconnaissance and information, and this time would be no different.

Nora stood up and pressed a button on the map table console. The cityscape faded away, revealing the network of tunnels crossing the area.

Unlike the system below Indianapolis, the tunnels were only big enough for a few people at a time, not vast transit routes like the subway. But they were also much, much more extensive, stretching to every corner of the district. Many had collapsed or lead to dead ends, but there were enough to give them routes into enemy territory.

Hydra had taken steps to avoid any unwanted infiltrators behind their lines, sealing entrances with rubble, welding manhole covers shut and the like. Ragnarok had done the same on their side of the lines, but with the sheer amount of routes taking care of them all was next to impossible. A few would escape their notice, which gave Black Wolf a way in.

Nora just hoped that Ragnarok wasn't having similar thoughts, but that wasn't their problem at the moment. Magic and Dragon Battalions could deal with any raiders that slipped in through the cracks. Black Wolf's job was the jammer and anything that stood in their way.

Miko leaned over the table, looking at one particular line running from the center of the city to the shore.

“Well, this is Selene's route,” she said, tracing the line with her finger.

Nora nodded and made a few adjustments, zooming in on the tunnel and making several of the more unimportant routes fade away.

“Alright, so this leads directly to the other side of the lines, right to the lakeshore,” Nora said, trying to bring Liz up to speed somewhat. “Last I heard they surveyed the tunnel and it didn't look like Ragnarok knew about it. There was some hostile wildlife, but nothing too serious. But we're not quite sure what's on the other side.”

Miko zoomed the display in further from her own position. “Actually, we do now.”

“How'd we get that information?”

“The same way we get all our information. Someone looks to see what's there.”

“Who looked?”

“I did,” Miko said. “Climbed out through the wreckage onto the shore. There's no defenders there, probably because it's along an inner part of the shoreline. It drains out at a spot between two points stretching out into the lake, so I think they put troops at the end of both of those and put something like a net over the entrance. That would be more than enough to keep out divers like us.”

“But we have a route around it, so all their defenses don't matter anymore,” Liz said. “How far did you explore inland, though? You don't want to end up stumbling across anything just a few yards from the shore.”

“We'll have to do more, but I explored about fifty yards inland from the outflow entrance,” Miko said. “There's patrols through the area, but they're mostly just NPC guards. Nothing we can't handle.”

Nora frowned. “How bad is the climb out?”

“Not easy, but not impossible either,” Miko said. “But I think we want to keep our loads as light as possible, because carrying a lot of equipment isn't going to help our case.”

That was to be expected. Heavy machine guns, mortars and the like were completely out of the question, but that didn't matter much because Ghost Battalion never used them anyhow, instead preferring to travel light. But even equipment like sniper rifles, recoilless rifles and light machine guns might be too bulky to carry through an obstacle like that.

Besides, their objective was to take out a specific target, striking quickly and with little warning. They didn't have time to get bogged down in firefights, so light weaponry might be all they needed anyhow. That, and a lot of explosives. Nora had no idea what it might take to destroy the jamming device, and she didn't want Alpha Wolf to reach their objective only to find out they couldn't actually complete it with the equipment they had on hand. Everyone would have explosives, ensuring they could level anything they came across.

It certainly would be overkill, but nothing could be left to chance. Depriving the enemy of one of their most powerful assets on the eve of Hydra's counteroffensive could prove decisive in the coming battle.

“So, how much equipment are we going to be able to carry? Because we need to have enough of it to put up a fight if we're discovered, and at the very least we need explosives.”

“A lot of them, I'm guessing?” Liz said.

“Probably. If it's buried underground then I'm guessing they're also going to have a lot of security on it as well,” Nora said.

“I guess that's the price for having a reputation like ours. Everyone who's smart prepares for the worst.”

That didn't surprise her in the least. Ragnarok had been on the receiving end of many Ghost Battalion raids, whether by land, boat, diver, helicopter or something else. Of course they would be prepared for anything out of the ordinary.

Miko spoke up again. “If we're going to be carrying light loads then I suggest we stick to things like carbines and assault rifles. We're not going to need anything heavier for a fast moving assault.”

“Even troops like the snipers and the heavies?”

“Yeah, they're not going to have time to find spots to hole up if we're moving fast. And ideally we'll get the jump on the enemy, so suppressive fire won't be that big of a deal.”

“Right.” Nora looked over at Liz. “Are you having any thoughts about this? Anything we might be missing?”

“Do you have any way to communicate with the artillery?” she asked.

“We can use the long range cybernetic radio, but other than that no.”

“That should be enough. Your commando team could probably call in artillery strikes to help clear the way toward their objectives. It'll make up for your lack of heavy weapons, at least.”

“Won't that make them think something is up?” Miko said. “They'll probably start up the jammer, and then we can't guide the strikes where we need to.”

“Then we make it seem like the artillery strikes are business as usual. Have Bravehart bombard targets within the district. That's what they'd normally be doing before an offensive, right?”

Nora nodded. “OK, point taken. I'll talk to Bryce about that.”

“If we're running the operation soon we're going to have to step up the bombardments soon,” Miko pointed out. “When are they planning it for? A week from now? Two weeks?”

Nora opened up her wrist menu, trying to find the answer somewhere in her notes. “Well, looks like they want to do it within five to seven days.”

“That's cutting it pretty close,” Liz commented.

“I think they're getting impatient. We've been fighting Ragnarok for the district for almost two months, and we need to get some forward momentum soon. Otherwise, we might be fighting for Milwaukee for years.”

“That long, huh?” Liz said dryly.

“OK, that's probably exaggerating, but come on, it's not like we're going to make much progress if we're having to grind for a few feet of ground a day.”

“Better that than to get caught being overambitious. That could mean losing all the ground we've gained over the past few months.”

Nora agreed with that. While everyone wanted to win the battle and finally take hold of the Cudahy District, going off half-cocked was a good way to invite disaster. Hydra didn't have nearly enough superiority in any area. They didn't have numbers, even with the extra reinforcements from Redd Foxx. Their technology was about even with the enemy. They couldn't rely on air support from Raven Company. They had a considerable amount of heavy artillery, but then again, so did Ragnarok.

The only way to compensate for that was by careful planning, identifying the enemy's weak points and preparing contingency plans for when things went wrong. No plan would work flawlessly, as they had all come to learn many times, but it was easier to adjust a plan on the fly than it was to make everything up as they came to it.

Of course, Ghost Battalion was used to improvising, but that had always been within the context of a plan, created after extensive reconnaissance. The one time they had gone off course had been the attack into the Central City district of Indianapolis, and that fight had almost ended in complete disaster. Much of the battalion had been wiped out in the fighting, many due to an accident that resulted from the unfamiliarity with the area.

If at all possible they wanted to avoid a repeat of that event, and so they'd take every opportunity they could to secure information. Some of it might be useful, some of it not, but it was far better than going in blind.

Miko broke into her thoughts. “OK, so assuming that they want to pull this off in five days or so, what's our plan? Do we scout more, or do we leave things as they are?”

“We have to know the route to the target,” Nora said. “That means we're going to have to scout it, but we're going to have to be careful. We don't want them to know we're snooping around.”

“And how's that going to play into the artillery bombardment?”

Nora frowned. “Huh?”

“I'm sorry, I don't follow either,” Liz said.

“We're going to try to step up our artillery strikes to make it seem like business as usual if we have to call in some support,” Miko said. “Are we targeting specific spots? The area's where we'll be heading? The transit routes?”

“We'll probably want to clear any major obstacles in our path,” Nora said.

“And when are we going to do it? I don't want shells falling on my head when I'm out there scouting. Plus, if we're targeting roads that'll mean Ragnarok will try to repair them, and that means a lot more eyes in the area.”

And that would leave their scouting teams far more vulnerable to being spotted as well. That last part went unsaid, but Nora took the implication of Miko's words. She was right, though. They couldn't just have Bravehart firing off random shots into enemy territory. They needed to come up with a plan to avoid any friendly fire incidents.

Besides, if Hydra's offensive would come soon afterward then they might as well destroy targets of opportunity during this operation. Strongpoints, ammunition dumps, command posts, critical intersections, the loss of those could severely curtail the enemy's ability to fight effectively, and Bravehart's heavy guns had the ability to reach out and destroy them.

“So, we'll come up with a list of targets,” Nora said. “We should probably send a schedule along with them, just to make sure we don't have any incidents.”

“One thing, though,” Liz said.

“What's that?”

“We can use the artillery to our advantage. Besides the obvious ways, I mean. If we call in strikes on certain spots away from the target areas we could probably draw Ragnarok's attention there. At the very least they'll have to send more of their repair crews there, and they might even have to send reinforcements to the area if they think it's preparation for an attack.”

Nora frowned. “That's true, but we're going to have to talk it over with Hydra Command before we actually do it. I don't want to end up doing something that'll hurt our chances at taking the district.”

They had to remember that they were just part of a much larger operation. Even though their mission was important, it wasn't the only thing going on, and they needed to consider the other situations. Making Rangarok move their troops out of Black Wolf's way wouldn't be a victory if they were in a spot to give Dragon or Magic serious trouble.

“At the very least, let's make sure we're doing things that will actually hurt Ragnarok, not just dumping shells on random targets,” Miko said. “I know we have a pretty good supply of ammunition, but we don't need to waste it. Hephaestus won't be happy.”

“I wouldn't imagine so,” Nora said

“And then they won't have time for other projects. You know how long it's been since I've asked Paige to look into building another custom rifle for me?”

Nora had to smile at that. “Oh come on, she's been pretty busy. What would you rather have, your new sniper rifle, or all those nice defenses you've been hiding behind for the past few weeks?”

“I'd like both, actually,” Miko replied cheekily.

“That wasn't an option.”

“Oh, I know. But that's part of the problem. Hephaestus is taking on a lot now, and we don't need to make more work for them. They've had a hard enough time getting new tech to us.”

“Speaking of that,” Liz said, “are you going to bring along your new rifles on the mission? It's almost certain that you'll lose some of them.”

Nora ran a hand through her hair. “I think so. It's going to happen at some point anyhow, and they can't replicate them without extensive study. Besides, they're lighter and more compact than normal guns, and we need that.”

“Every little bit helps,” Miko agreed.

Every little bit. And they'd need a lot of those little bits for their plan to succeed.