Howl: A World at War Novel (14 page)

“
Maybe they're covering it with artillery? Or maybe they have troops that will move up there once an attack starts?” Nora suggested.

“
That shouldn't matter if we're quick about it,” Selene said. “All we need to do is to take and hold the beach. Once we do that we can land our troops and then make a quick push for the gate.”

Anna looked over the contents of her report again. “What I'm more concerned about is the number of enemy troops that you think are present. You say between eight hundred and a thousand? That's pretty high, especially when they're the ones defending And from what I've heard, they're a cut above anything we've faced.”

“I think we can deal with them if we use our artillery and air support,” Selene said.

She saw Anna frown as she shifted through the data in the holographic map projector. “You say you saw antiaircraft guns there? That's going to be a problem. We're going to have to make sure that we pinpoint where every single one of them is and then take them out. Otherwise, our air support might be grounded.”

“I wonder why they're not firing on us when we overfly the city?” Gray said. “You'd think that they would want to stop recon flights.”

“
Maybe they're programmed that way?” Nora suggested.

“
Whatever the case, we can be sure that they're going to start firing if we start attacking. And our choppers have almost no way to defend themselves.”

“
Hmm. If we took them out early, would they be rebuilt?” Selene asked.

“
Artillery is out of the question right now. That will just bring counter fire from the guns up on the walls,” Anna said.

“
I know that's not an option, and airstrikes probably aren't one either,” Selene said. “But what if we sent raiding teams in to destroy them? Like, maybe a few days before the battle?”

“
Dangerous work,” Anna said.

“
Sounds like fun,” Gray said with a grin. At least she had someone on board.

“
Do we know if that will even work?” Nora asked.

Selene shrugged. “We'll never know unless we try.”

“Maybe we try a test run?” Anna suggested, “We can destroy one of the guns to see how long it takes to be replaced.”

“
I'll take a team to do it,” Gray said. “I seem to be turning into the crash dummy anyhow.”

“
Well, since you're offering,” Selene shrugged. “If we're going to do this we might have to push it through the council. We'll need to have our troops trained for the assault, at the very least.”

Nora ran a hand through her hair. “That might end up being a problem. We'll have to weaken our front line garrisons, and that means Ragnarok will be able to attack us again.”

“Is Ronin enough of a threat to them?” Gray asked.

Nora shrugged. “It's hard to say. From what I've heard from Zach and Danny they're not especially forthcoming about their strength. We
think
that they have enough to at least make Ragnarok cautious, but we're not completely sure.”

That was going to be the biggest problem. Right now Hydra had to split their forces between north and south. If they wanted to launch a successful attack then they were going to need to use almost all their strength. That would mean their northern holdings were going to be very threatened if Ragnarok figured out what they were doing and launched an attack.

Most of their northern holdings weren't all that important; they were just outposts and points for launching attacks. The only critical areas they had to protect were the ones around Lerna Bastion, but they would also be undermanned during the attack.

Risks needed to be taken, though.

That was the lifeblood of Black Wolf, the first company to be founded in the Old Chicago region. Other companies had taken weeks to come into being. They had been founded on the first day thanks to an insane plan that Zach had hatched. Her, Zach, Danny and Miko against a force four times their size that was in a fortified position. No matter. They had been aggressive, and it had paid off.

It went even further than that. They weren't the first ones to discover a schematics, but they had been the first to tackle and especially difficult bunker. It cost them half their number, but they had come away with the formula for overdrive.

The risk-taking had even extended to the beginnings of the Hydra Alliance. Black Wolf, Redd Foxx and Sacred Sword had believed they could take a town, even when they had no idea what they were up against. Their enthusiasm had been infectious, enough to convince Grizzly to join them. They had Lerna Bastion right now because of that. So why were they so cautious right now?

Maybe it was because they were a major power in the region right now, and they felt like they had more to lose if they failed. They had taken most of their risks trying to gain an advantage. Now that they had one, they were adverse to doing anything that might jeopardize it.

Then again, their advantage was little more than a paper tiger at this point, Selene thought. Hydra had no way to get any bigger at this point. If they added more members then they would put more strain on their logistics system, and that meant their technological advantages would be gone. And even if they doubled in size they would still be smaller than Ragnarok Company.

As much as they didn't want to admit it, they were still second best, still trying to gain that advantage. The people that thought Lerna Bastion was that advantage were wrong. It had weathered an assault from Ragnarok before, but Ragnarok was growing stronger every day. Right now they were like a turtle, safe and sound inside their shell. Eventually, though, someone was going to come along that could crack that shell, and then where would they be?

The more things changed, the more they stayed the same, Selene thought to herself. Their choice was to either make a gamble, or to die a slow death as Ragnarok squeezed the life out of them. She knew which one she would choose.

“
Ronin isn't going to be able to anything other than staying on the defensive,” Nora was saying. “They don't have the troops to do much else.”

“
Sure, we know that, but do they?” Anna asked. “They don't have to win. They just have to distract Ragnarok long enough for us to take the city. Or at least most of it. It could even be good for us if they ended up losing, as long as they don't get immediately crushed. We can absorb their members once they're forced to disband.”

“
Don't let any of the others hear that,” Gray commented. Over half their companies had come from an alliance known as the Legion Pact. Ragnarok had crushed them, which suited Hydra fine. They had swooped in like vultures, picking the bones of the Pact and bringing their members into the fold.

“
Anyhow, we're not in the best position to judge Ronin's abilities. We should lean on Danny and Zach for that kind of information,” Nora said.

“
Do we really want to trust them to do what we want them to?” Selene asked. Ronin had great fighting ability on the tactical level. It was the strategic level that bothered her. Levi and the rest of the leadership might be too ambitious for their own good.

“
We can rely on Levi being a stubborn ox,” Anna said. “Once we figure out how to put it in his head that taking the battle to Ragnarok is a good idea, we should be golden.”

Selene leaned forward over the map table and smiled. “Man, we are playing this nasty. Manipulation, psychological warfare and the like.”

“Hey, if they're open to it I don't see why not,” Anna said. “Besides, it's not like a monopoly or hoarding are any better.”

“
Whatever we decide, we need to do it relatively soon,” Nora said. “If we're going to shift our forces south then we need to make sure that Ronin is up to the job of contesting the north. If we're going to use the strategy that Selene came up with we need to get it past the council and we need to make sure that everyone's prepared for their roles. I'm most concerned about the assault teams.”

“
David always has his troops in order,” Gray said. “As for Marauder, just point them at the thing you want dead and it'll happen.”

Selene looked over the map again. “We have a lot of recon work to do as well.”

“At least the recon aircraft is getting close to completion,” Nora said.

“
That will help,” Selene nodded. They would need every bit of it they could get.

CHAPTER 13

Sleight of Hand

The message from Hydra command was clear. They were to do everything possible to shore up Ronin's position in the north so they could threaten Ragnarok. That meant raids, recon and whatever other aid they could render. That also meant a lot more coordination with Ronin forces.

Danny was glad that most of their interaction was with White Tiger. Tafari was fairly easygoing and was well aware of the situation. As much as they wanted to stand on their own two feet, their alliance didn't have the technology and manpower to do so. Any help was welcome, no matter the source.

His platoon had been hard at work, sailing up and down the river and roaming the skies, raiding supply convoys, picking off patrols and causing general havoc. Liz's platoon was even more deadly at times; with Redd Foxx ability to infiltrate deep behind enemy lines without being detected, they could pop up and achieve complete surprise. You could hear a chopper or a boat coming. But with Redd Foxx, the first sign you were under attack was when the bullets started flying. Sometimes you didn't even get that kind of warning.

One of their favorite new tactics had been to launch an attack from the air on a convoy. They would land a few squads to hit the convoy, supported by strafing runs. Once they had done some damage they would retreat, letting the Ragnarok forces think they had driven them off and that they were safe. They would continue up the road, convinced that they were home free, and would run straight into an ambush of Redd Foxx troops. Five convoys had been completely annihilated this way.

But raiding convoys was only going to do so much. It would make Ragnarok's supply situation more problematic, but they still had a huge number of troops in the north. They weren't going to be destroyed just because they were getting less bullets and overdrive. Someone would have to drive them out.

That was their role. Zach was working with Sam and Tafari, trying to come up with a way to strengthen Ronin's hold on their positions. If they could steal some of Ragnarok's territory they would do so as well.

Zach's biggest concern right now was running into the Valkyries. Danny couldn't blame him; he was concerned as well.

For all the talk about how good they were, the reality was even worse. Danny had taken the time to observe them during the last battle when he wasn't running for his life. They were definitely elite troops. The Valkyries knew how to negate Hydra's advantages and play to their own strengths. They dealt with obstacles in a quick and brutal fashion; he had a front row seat that showed their love of RPGs. They knew the value of cover, knew how to stay on top of an enemy and give them no respite. Calling them a challenge was putting it very lightly.

There was one weakness, though. They couldn't be everywhere at once. If Danny end up with the Valkyries on his tail that meant they weren't hurting Ronin. That would be small comfort if he ended up dying every time they fought, but it was something, at least.

Danny wondered if they had a main base that they operated of, and where that was. That would be a way to get their attention. He wondered just how well they would fight if Hydra caught them by surprise. It could be like throwing cherry bombs down a woodchuck hole. Or it could be like sticking your arm in a badger's den.

Whatever the case, their job was distraction, nothing more. The only other thing they had to gain up here was experience. From the sound of things, they were in for a tough fight when they moved back south. He wanted to forge his troops in the heat of battle up here. If they could take on the Valkyries, they could take on anything the city threw at them.

His alert buzzed. “Danny, are you around?” Zach asked at the other end of the line.

“Yeah, I'm here,” he responded.

“
Could you come find us in the main meeting room? Liz is already here.”

“
On my way,” Danny confirmed. He left the Hydra base and made his way over to the White Tiger stronghold. No one gave him much notice as he entered. Their novelty had worn off, it appeared.

Zach, Liz and Tafari were already seated in the meeting room as he entered. Danny took a seat.

Zach spoke up first. “Alright, we've been talking with Sam and Rafe. Ragnarok
really
doesn't like the fact that they hold Fort Baldr right now, but there's nothing they can do about it. They want to make sure that the same thing doesn't happen to Fort Odin. But Ronin wants it bad.”

“
We all do,” Tafari said.

“
You guys really need to come up with a name for your alliance,” Zach shrugged. “It's hard to refer to it otherwise.”