Howl: A World at War Novel (19 page)

Zach shook his head ruefully. Maybe the Valkyries had something else going on. Whatever the case, their mere existence was enough to influence the battle. Jackal, Griffon and Bravehart had spent a nervous hour waiting for the inevitable attack. Zach had been completely surprised when it didn't happen. The question kept popping into his head again and again. Why?

“
Hey Zach.”

He looked over to see David and Morgan walking toward him. “Great job, you guys,” he said to them.

“You don't seem happy about it,” Morgan commented. “You and Danny. You really wanted to tangle with the Valkyries, huh?”

Zach shrugged. “On some level, yeah. But the bigger issue is the fact that they didn't show at all.”

“Maybe they were busy elsewhere?” David suggested.

“
That was my thought. The problem is, what could be so important that they'd risk losing one of their most important forts?”

Morgan stroked his chin thoughtfully. “So you're saying they might have something up their sleeve?”

“Or they've found something that's worth it. Like a schematic, for instance?” David said.

“
That's what I'm afraid of,” Zach said.

“
Even if they have something, they got caught with their pants down here. And no schematic is going to be worth losing the fort.”

“
It might be later,” Zach said. “The designs themselves aren't overpowered, but someone smart can exploit them. Take the overdrive, for instance.”

“
It's still going to take some time,” David said. “By the time they can do anything we're going to be inside Indianapolis.”

And whatever Ragnarok did to Ronin wasn't their problem. That was the part that he left out.

Zach glanced over their shoulder to see Liz and Danny walking up. Danny still looked agitated.

“
I heard you guys really did a number on the Ragnarok forces coming down from the north,” Zach said.

“
It wasn't much of a fight,” Danny said. “We lost four people. We counted over one hundred corpses, and there's probably more. Raven Flight was giving chase after they retreated.”

“
Wasn't much of a fight?” Liz said. She sounded satisfied, at least. “They had us outnumbered four to one and we slaughtered them. I don't care that they were the cannon fodder. That was way too much fun.”

“
Hey, someone who understands my line of thought,” Morgan grinned. “Sometimes it's just fun to see how overpowered you are.”

“
I bet Karen had fun,” Zach said.

Danny finally smiled. “Oh, did she ever. I had her lead an assault on the enemy line. She broke them, and man, was she ruthless.”

“I imagine.”

Danny frowned. “But they're not the Valkyries. Where were they?”

Zach shrugged. “We may never know. I know it bothers you. Heck, it bothers me a lot. But the fact is that we won. We did what we needed to do, and we put a dagger at the throat of Ragnarok.”

“
Yeah,” Danny said. He looked up over Zach's shoulder. “Well, I should get everyone settled.”

“
Me too,” Liz said.

“
Yeah, I think there's something I should do,” Morgan added.

David shook his head. “Well, I won't leave you.”

“What?” Zach asked. He looked over his shouldered and saw them. The Ronin alliance's commanders were headed toward them Tafari, Rafe, Sam. And Levi. “Oh.”

CHAPTER 16

Back Together

“Alpha Wolf, we're in position. Ready to go on your signal.”

Selene nodded. Everything was falling into place. “Copy that, Alpha 3. Alpha 2, are you in position yet?”

“Give us a few seconds and we'll be there,” Ethan told her. “We'll be as quick as possible.”

“
Copy that.” Selene had asked for two volunteer squads, and those two had stepped forward first. They were going to test the theory about the antiaircraft guns.

The guns had a few guards posted around them, as well as their crews. Selene was pretty sure that her troops could waste them without any trouble, but that would alert the garrison and cost them precious seconds. And while it wouldn't be an absolute disaster if they were killed, now was not the time to start losing weapons and ammunition that they would never get back. Hephaestus had enough equipment to produce as it was.

She had decided that they would take them out at a distance, using recoilless rifles. The flip side was that they would have to use them outside to avoid injuring themselves. That was the weakness of the system; they were powerful, but they forced the user to expose themselves. And since they needed to have a clear line of sight to hit their target, that meant they would have to use them from the roof of a building.

There was a real risk that they could be caught on the roof when the enemy responded. It had happened to Liz when she had scouted Lerna Bastion, and she still hadn't lived it down. Ethan had put two teams up on the roof, and had posted the rest below to hold the area. Once they fired they would make a run for it, covered by Logan's squad, and then her entire force would be extracted by boat. It was ambitious, audacious and completely suicidal; a perfect job for Black Wolf.

“Neptune 1, we're ready to go. Be ready for the extract.”

“
Roger, Alpha Wolf.”

“
Alpha Wolf, we're in position,” Ethan said.

“
Alright.” Selene opened up her menu and tapped a few buttons. She sent a ten second countdown marker to everyone in her force, plus the crews of Neptune 1 and Neptune 2. “Be ready to go when it hits zero.”

Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six.

Selene clicked her assault rifle off of safe. The operation was well planned, but still, this was going to be tight.

Five. Four. Three. Two. One.

If this worked though, they were going to need to do a lot more of these, and they would be further inside the city. They needed to get used to them whether they liked it or not.

Zero.

Selene heard the sound of two recoilless rifles firing, followed by a pair of explosions. It sounded good, at least.

“
Target's down. We're getting out of here now,” Ethan confirmed. Alarms were starting to blare throughout the city.

“
OK, let's go then,” Selene ordered. “Neptune 1, we'll be at the extract point in two minutes.”

“
Copy that, Alpha Wolf,” came the response.

Selene looked over at Logan. “Be ready to run as soon as Ethan's squad gets clear.”

“Roger that,” Logan confirmed. “I'm not getting left behind.”

They didn't have long to wait. About thirty seconds later Ethan's squad came sprinting down the street. The rest of them got out of cover and joined them, running for the landing zone. They needed to get out of here before the garrison arrived.

They reached the landing zone without incident. Their transports were waiting there for them. Selene leaped aboard Neptune 1, followed by Ethan's squad. They shoved off, with Neptune 2 close behind.

“
Company,” she heard Colin say. There were enemy troops moving along the shore.

“
Don't bother firing unless their fire starts getting close,” Selene ordered. “No use in wasting ammo.”

Their craft speed off into the darkness toward home base. Now all they could do was to sit and wait. They would find out if this idea had merit very soon.

The results were good. Three days had passed and the gun was still not repaired. In the mean time they had taken out four more. The ones further inside the city would be far more difficult to take out, but at the very least they could reduce the number of targets they needed to take out later.

That was one of their tasks leading up to the start of the battle. The other, more important one was to train for the amphibious assault on the beach. They had enough boats to get all of the ranger company across the reservoir in one wave, thanks to the hard work of Hephaestus Company. The landing would happen in two stages. First, the beach would be hit with a short bombardment from mortars and some artillery. It was at the extreme edge of mortar range, but it would still help to clear out any defenses. After the bombardment lifted they would land. Black Wolf Company would spearhead the assault, since they were more suited to a frontal attack. Redd Foxx would follow behind them and help to secure the beach.

The first assault was going to be absolutely vital. They needed to be able to offload quickly, lest they be caught out in the open with no cover. They would need to train, and they would need to train hard.

Selene watched as the boat in front of her sped into the shore and ran aground. The troops aboard quickly jumped off the bow and advanced forward.

“
So, what do you think about that?” She asked.

“
How hard is it going to be to get the boat back into the water?” Zach asked from his spot toward the rear of the boat.

“
That's something we'll have to find out.”

“
Is the hull going to end up damaged? 'Cause we might end up destroying some of our craft that way.”

“
We'll have to see, but they're pretty solid. I think we 'll be fine as long as we do it right,” Selene said.

“
That's an awful lot of ifs,” Zach commented.

“
Well, that's one idea. We just need to figure out which one to use.”

“
Are there docks along the shore?” Danny asked.

“
Yeah, we've been using them to infiltrate and for extract. The problem is that they're really exposed, and we'll be launching our attack during the day.”

“
Could we wade in?” Zach asked. “We wouldn't have to risk the boats that way.”

“
We have no idea how deep the bottom is,” Nora said.

“
Could we find out?”

Selene frowned. “That's going to be really hard. “We'd have to do it in the middle of the night, and I still have the suspicion that we're probably going to get shot in the process.”

“Still, we need to know for sure,” Danny said.

Selene sighed. “Yeah, we do. Do you know if they sell diving equipment in Old Chicago?”

“Would you know how to use it even if they did?” Zach asked.

She shrugged. “It would help, at least.”

“Who's going to draw suicide scout duty?” Danny asked.

“
Gosh, I wonder who,” Selene said sarcastically. “Unless you're volunteering.”

“
I'd love to, but we just got done fighting Ragnarok when they had us outnumbered four to one, so I'm up for a less dangerous assignment now.”

“
Oh please, you were complaining that they were cannon fodder,” Zach said.

“
Are you volunteering?” Nora asked.

“
I'm not a scout. Are you?”

She shrugged. “If Selene wants me to come along, then I'd be happy to.”

“Sorry, but that's not going to happen. She's the strategist for this whole operation, and she should use the time to plan,” Selene said.

“
Sure, side with her,” Danny said.

Selene thought for a moment, then pushed him over the side of the boat. “How deep is it?” she asked.

Danny flailed around a bit as he tried to get his bearings, then started to tread water. “Wow you're mean.” He swam up and pulled himself back into the boat.

“
You have to admit that was pretty hilarious,” Zach said.

Danny grinned. “Yeah, I can admit that, but next time you can take the swim.”

Selene smiled. It had been far too long since they all had been working together. “OK, I'll take a team out tonight, and we'll test the depth close to the beaches.”

“
Do you have a specific team planned?” Danny asked.

“
No, I was going to ask for volunteers.”

“
Mind if I volunteer? I'd like to see this place for myself.”

“
Sure.”

“
Actually, I'd like to come along as well,” Zach said. “It's been forever since we ran in the same fireteam.”

“
Well, since you guys are going I think I should come along, at least as Miko's replacement,” Nora said.

“
Speaking of which, what has she been doing?” Selene asked. “She's been missing a lot.”

“
Not a clue,” Danny said.

“
She's been present,” Zach told her. “And she's been busy. She's still in the north, headhunting.”

Selene nodded. “Ah. What have we created? She went from a lost nobody to one of the best assassins in the game. I'm guessing she's gone after Ragnarok?”

“Them and a few others,” Zach said. “There were a few companies that were collaborating with them. Collecting resources for them and such. Ragnarok thought we wouldn't notice because they were so far north. They stopped pretty quickly, once she started offing their commanders.”

“
Dude, we're pure evil,” Danny laughed.

“
You need to add a bit more of a cackle to that, then,” Selene said. “That's just how this world works.”

“
Yeah. No heroes to be found here. Everyone is either a psychopath or a sociopath. Or a combination of the two,” Danny said. “And we're definitely not immune to it either.”

“
We're not that bad,” Zach said.

“
This is coming from the person who refers to Ronin as a meatshield?”

“
Well, they are a meatshield, and that's really not our fault,” Selene said. “I mean, if they would just cooperate then they wouldn't be in that position now, would they? But no, they need to have control over everything.”

“
Plus, we've given them support. They wouldn't have the two forts without us. And we got a high level schematic for them as well,” Zach pointed out.

“
Which they can't build because they lack the manufacturing capability,” Nora said. “And even if they had it, they don't have an airfield.”

“
Not our problem,” Zach shrugged.

“
Not our problem at all,” Selene agreed. This really was a cold, cruel world, and sometimes they were little better than armed gangs. But maybe it would change. Then again, it was liberating to escape from the rules of society.

“
Do you think they can hold off Ragnarok?” Nora asked. “I know they can delay them for a while, but for how long?”

“
It depends how much they pour into the forts,” Zach said. “I have a feeling that they want to hold them at all costs.”

That would help Hydra a lot, Selene thought to herself. It could also end up bleeding Ronin's alliance white. Fort Odin and Fort Baldr were strong, but neither of them had the power that Lerna Bastion possessed. And Ragnarok had been able to threaten it at the beginning of the war, before the Valkyries were fully formed, before they had grown even larger, before they gained experience.

Ronin had been able to fight and resist because Ragnarok was always battling on several fronts. At first it was against the Legion Pact, and one they had been subdued Hydra had attacked them. But the two front war was over now. Ronin was the only one facing them, left to take the full fury of their retaliation. Levi and the rest of them might have severely overplayed their hand. It was very likely that they were going to get crushed. Selene just hoped they would delay Ragnarok long enough for Hydra to get their business done.

“
How long can they really hold out?” Selene asked.

Zach frowned. “Well, I'm not sure. Our support had one unintended side effect. Taking Fort Odin and Fort Baldr gave them a lot of credibility around Old Chicago. There's talks that several companies are interested in joining their alliance.”

“How large?”

He shrugged. “I haven't heard numbers. I've just heard a few names. One of them is Death's Head. The other one is The Kings.”

“
Them?
” Nora said. “Any respect I had for Ronin and the rest of them goes out the window if they let them join up.”