Howl: A World at War Novel (8 page)

“Actually, there is something that you can do for us,” Sam said. “We've been scouting to the north of here. We've discovered an abandoned airfield that probably has a schematic but we can't clear it with anything less than a platoon. And we can't spare that many troops at the moment. If you guys could clear the place out and get the schematic for us, we would be willing to share. And that would probably fill your obligations of raids to us.”

“
Sounds good, although we won't know how well we'll do unless we hear all of the details,” Liz said.

“
The proposal is fine as is,” Zach said. “We'll recover the schematic in exchange for a base. I can't imagine that the place can't be cleared out by two platoons.”

“
Alright, I'll make sure that it gets approved by Levi,” Sam told them.

“
It's approved, since it's my base,” Tafari said. “We don't have an official alliance like you guys do, so it's still up to the individual company commanders to decide what to do. And I think this is a good idea.”

“
Don't cause a rift in your alliance on account of us,” Liz said. “If they don't like it, then we'll do what we can. We'll find another way.”

“
That's rather candid of you, considering we could force you to make a better offer if we wanted,” Rafe said. “Not that we would, but still.”

“
Who said we'd negotiate with you?” Liz said. “We could just grab a place for ourselves.”

Both Sam and Tafari laughed. “She has a point there, Rafe,” Sam said.

“What do you guys need help with?” Zach asked. “Our objective up here is to keep Ragnarok busy. We're not picky about how we do it, so if we can help you in any way we'll be glad to.”

“
Well, anything that weakens them will be good,” Sam said. “We're not going to be very picky.”

“
It might be better if we didn't know,” Rafe said. “The best thing you can do is to cause confusion.”

They were being evasive, and Zach could hardly blame them. True, both sides wanted to cooperate, but neither was forgetting that they were part of separate alliances. They had their own interests and would exploit each other for those ends if they could. Right now they were cooperating because those interests intersected, but giving away valuable intelligence would be foolish. There could be a time when both alliances ended up in a war with each other. In fact, if Ragnarok managed to absorb Ronin then they could be in serious trouble if they new Hydra's secrets. They would have to instruct their troops about that before they moved to their new base.

“Well, that definitely works for us,” Liz said. “We-”

The world outside suddenly came alive. There was gunfire, a lot of it, and it sounded intense. Sam was immediately on his radio. “What's going on?” he demanded.

“This again?” Zach grumbled to himself. His alert rang. Rielle was on the other end of the line.

“
Wolf Lead, we've got trouble,” she said. “Ragnarok's here in force, and they're gunning through the troops here pretty quick.”

“
How did they get here?” Zach demanded, though he knew full well that she didn't have the answer.

“
Don't know, but we're going to have to either run for it now or resort to Plan B.”

“
Copy. We're coming out,” Zach said. He turned to the rest of the group. “We're leaving. Contact me when you guys decide.”

“
Sorry about this,” Sam apologized.

Zach pulled his carbine off his back and jogged out of the front door, with the rest of them close behind. He got out just in time to see everything go south.

BAM!

The front gate was suddenly blown off its hinges, rocked by several explosions. A few seconds later troops started pouring in. Zach and Liz were forced to dive into cover as they opened fire. Several bullets came very, very close to hitting them.

“Crap, we lost Rafe,” Liz said, looking back. “Tafari looks like he got hit as well.” She peered up from her position and fired. A barrage of fire drove her back to the ground.

“
Wolf Lead, I just lost Cole,” Rielle said. “I can't hold them off by myself.”

“
They're here for the chopper,” Zach said. “Go with Plan B.”

“
I didn't want to walk anyhow,” Rielle said.

BAM!

Another explosion went off. Small shards of metal started to rain down from the sky.

That was their Plan B. If their choppers were ever at risk of being captured, they were rigged with charges and a self-destruct switch. Even though it mean the deaths of the pilots it was well worth it. They couldn't risk Ragnarok being able to reverse engineer one of their best weapons.

And anyhow, they would be dead no matter what. There was no way they were going to get out of this alive. Ragnarok had too many troops and were through the gate already.

Sam sat up to fire and got a bullet through his head. Tafari managed to get off a burst at the enemy before an RPG came his way. Liz was thrown into Zach by the force of the blast. And then they had a half-dozen guns in their face. Rough hands knocked their weapons away and forced them up to their knees. The outpost was a wreck, and it looked like they were the only survivors.

Zach looked around at their captors. They were wearing Ragnarok colors and their insignia on their shoulders, an earth being engulfed by the world serpent, but they had an additional mark on their chest. It was a female warrior with wings, carrying a spear. A Valkyrie.

“
Joy,” Zach said to himself.

The ranks in front of them parted, and a figure walked toward them. He had a sniper rifle slung over his back.

“Of course it would be you,” Liz said beside him.

The Wraith stopped in front of them and shrugged. “I'd like to know what you're doing here.”

“Just passing through,” Zach said.

“
I bet,” the Wraith said. He made a sudden motion, and then there was a pistol in his hand. Others grabbed theirs as well. Liz was hit by a dozen shots.

“
Was that really necessary?” Zach demanded, the anger rising in him. It was irrational anger, really, but he felt it all the same.

“
Yes,” the Wraith said. “Or did you not know? Ivan, show him.”

One of his troops walked over and opened up the palm of Liz's hand. There was a grenade inside.

“OK, that's fair,” Zach admitted.

The Wraith aimed his pistol at him next. “What were you doing here?”

“Having a nice chat,” Zach said flatly.

The Wraith clicked his tongue. “Not the answer I'm looking for,” he said. “I could question you further, but that would just be a waste of both our time, hmm?”

Pop.

Zach fell backward, and the world went black.

You are KIA
.

“So the Valkyries were there? That sounds really suspicious,” Anna said.

“
Yeah, I know. It wasn't just a lucky guess. They were definitely there for the chopper. The problem is, I have no idea how they got the info that we were going to be there. None of the three leaders are the type that would sell us out,” Zach said.

He had called a meeting of the ranger company leadership to go over the situation. Word had trickled back to them that Levi and the rest of the alliance's leadership had approved the plan for their base. That was definitely going to help them, but the fight with the Valkyries had made him nervous. True, they had been caught by surprise and had been outnumbered. The problem was how quickly they had been crushed; they should have put up a much longer fight. The fact that they were being lead by the Wraith was also unsettling.

The Wraith. His name was Patrick Sharper, and he was the best sniper in the Old Chicago region, bar none. Even Hydra's best snipers like Miko and Jonas couldn't match his ability. This had been the second time the Zach had been killed by him; the first time he had been sniped from a distance. He was cold, calculating and intelligent.

The most intimidating thing about him was that he knew how to exploit every possible advantage on the battlefield. Miko had taken the time to study how he operated, and then had started to emulate it. For the Wraith killing was only a means to an end. His real objective was to disrupt the enemy and keep them from fighting effectively. Unlike other snipers, who would shoot anyone who crossed their scope, the Wraith usually only targeted leaders. His aim was to deprive the enemy of their coordination.

That made sense to Zach, and it seemed like it was very effective. Many snipers target heavies and other snipers, but a good commander could move troops around to compensate for losses. If the leader was taken out of the battle, however, the separate elements couldn't coordinate well. Veteran troops could exploit that kind of confusion and tear through an enemy line.

It looked like the Valkyries had picked up on their leader's personality, and that was why they were so intimidating. For all of Black Wolf and Redd Foxx's battle craft, the Valkyries could match them. Their only real advantage was the firepower they could bring in the form of close air and water support, but they would need to stay close enough to use it. If they were caught far behind enemy lines then it was likely they were dead meat.

Nora interrupted his thoughts. “Whatever the case, we have our base near the front lines.”

“
Danny's not going to like this,” Liz said.

“
Speaking of which, is he still on the raid?” Selene asked.

Zach shrugged. “He hasn't respawned back here, so as far as I know, yes.”

He wondered how he was doing.

CHAPTER 8

Interdiction

It was an odd feeling, watching a battle from above. Danny had seen plenty up close and personal. He had seen more watching blips on a screen, and had experienced a few times in a command vehicle. But it was nothing like what he could see flying above the battlefield in the cockpit of a chopper.

Xavier's squad had dropped off into the forest to the west side of the road and was advancing east toward the Ragnarok convoy. To the south Karen's squad had blocked off the retreat route and was laying down fire on the rear of the column. Javy's squad sat at the northern end of the road taking pot shots at the front of the convoy with their recoilless rifle.

The enemy couldn't mount a response. They were heavily armed for infantry, but they were mounted in trucks laden down with precious cargo. Few of the trucks were armed, and they had been quickly destroyed. The rest of the column had been penned in by the ambush and were being squeezed. And that wasn't even the worst part for them.

Danny watched Raven 3 swoop in below him, making a fast attack run with guns blazing. The speed of the attack made it somewhat ineffective, but it's value was very clear from his vantage point; troops on the ground were spooked by the bullets landing around them and would hug cover. This gave the troops on the ground plenty of time to advance unmolested.

He activated his radio. “Bravo 1, how are you doing on the trucks?”

“
We have about half of them down, Bravo Wolf. Are you sure you don't want to save any of them?” Xavier asked.

“
We don't have the space to carry any of the cargo. Just make sure that there's nothing left for Ragnarok to come and claim.”

“
Copy that.”

Danny looked over the battlefield again, then changed the channel. He opened up a dual line to Javy and Karen. “Bravo 3, start pushing up from the south. Make them squirm. Bravo 2, stay in position.”

“Roger that, Bravo Wolf,” Javy confirmed.

“
Copy, Bravo Wolf,” Karen said, the eagerness evident in her voice.

Out of anyone she probably had the best reason to hate Ragnarok. Before she had been a squad leader, before she had joined Black Wolf, before any of that she had been the leader of a small company. Their membership was small, with only around ten players, and they were all low level. They didn't stand a chance when Ragnarok had come calling. Danny had to give them credit, though. They didn't submit. When Ragnarok had taken their fortress they had tried to win it back, futile as their effort was. Once the forty eight hour time limit had passed and their company had been disbanded they had traveled south and asked to join Black Wolf Company.

Karen was definitely a natural leader, Danny had observed. She had a keen mind that could quickly analyze the changing situation of the battlefield. She was aggressive when she needed to be, cautious when the situation warranted, and most importantly could put fire in her troops. Almost all of Bravo 3 was made of up of troops from her doomed company, and they were effective. Danny would put them up against any other squad in Black Wolf; Gavin's veterans, Xavier's stalwarts, even a squad with all the Black Wolf originals in it. If things had been slightly different it could be her in charge of the platoon. It might be her in charge of the platoon, if they gained more members and the reshuffled the command structure.

Danny watched with interest as her squad went to work. She had a pair of heavies in her squad armed with a machine gun, plus a third with a recoilless rifle. One of them laid down cover fire on the rear of the column while the other nine moved up. The second heavy dropped prone about fifty yards ahead and started laying down cover fire as well; the first one got up and advanced forward.

Machine gun fire came out from one of the rear trucks, narrowly missing several of the squad. They quickly took cover behind trees and rocks. Danny was about to order Raven 4 to make a run on the truck, but that was completely unnecessary. The truck exploded into a million tiny shards of metal, and Danny suddenly burst out laughing, earning a quizzical look from his pilot Brooke. Bravo 3 had taken care of that problem quickly. No one would want to use a vehicle as cover, lest they be blasted by a recoilless rifle shell.

“
Bravo Wolf, Bravo Wolf, please respond.”

“
I copy you, Raven 5,” he responded. That was their bird on standby to the south.

“
There's a Ragnarok team coming out from Old Chicago riding ATVs. They'll be on your position in about eight to ten minutes.”

“
Copy that. Keep tabs on them and warn me when they're getting close.”

“
Roger, Bravo Wolf.”

Danny changed the channels on his radio again. “Listen up, everyone. We're going to have company soon. Finish them off and do what you have to. Make sure there's nothing left for them.”

“Go to town?” Javy asked.

“
Go to town, everyone,” Danny said. There was going to be a fireworks show soon.

He didn't have long to wait. There were half-dozen intact vehicles in the convoy. Three of them suddenly weren't there anymore, blasted by recoilless rifle shells. The remaining Ragnarok troops were forced back, fighting hard but poorly. They were definitely new recruits, Danny thought. The veterans would have killed far more of them. And they never would have clustered close together.

Raven 3 and Raven 4 zoomed in again on a strafing run. Danny saw several of the enemy go down. That wasn't the real benefit, though; it was the fact that they were pinned down and not firing. That gave his troops time. Far, far too much time.

The ground below lit up with explosions. Recoilless rifle rounds, hand grenades, launched grenades, the firestorm was intense. Danny almost felt sorry for the Ragnarok troops. There was nothing left of them except charred bodies and smoking burned-out wrecks.

Danny nodded approvingly. “Great job everyone. Let's get out of here before they know what hit 'em.”

“So you got executed by the Wraith?” Danny laughed.

Zach gave him an annoyed look and flipped over the turn card. It was a five of diamonds. “Pretty much, although it saved me the trouble of having to walk back to base.”

“Put that way, that sounds like a much better option,” Gavin agreed.

“
How tough were the Valkyries?” Javy asked. He tossed in a bet.

Zach shook his head and called. “We didn't stand a chance,” he said. “Even with how badly they outnumbered us, we should have at least been able to hold them off for five to ten minutes.”

“How long did you last?” Javy inquired.

“
About two minutes.”

Gavin shook his head and folded. “You know, I'm really glad that I've been assigned to the south right now. Even with the walls and the huge army.”

“Have you done anything?” Danny asked. He called as well.

“
Not yet. Gray took a team south to survey the walls. They think there might be a way in like a sewer pipe or the like.”

“
That would be the worst weakness ever,” Javy said. “Hey, we have fifty foot walls, more guns than God and a million troops on the walls, but you can go crawling through the sewers to avoid all of that.”

Danny nodded in agreement. “Even if they were a way in like that, I'd bet anything that it was heavily guarded.”

Zach dealt out the river card. It was the ace of clubs. “I'd bet that too, but we need some way in,” he said. “Ronin wants us to go grab a schematic for them in exchange for the base. Maybe that will be something we can use.”

“
I'm not one to bank on us getting a miracle weapon,” Xavier said, watching the rest of the proceeds. He had folded on the flop.

“
We have almost eight hundred minds. At least one of them should be able to come up with a plan,” Zach said.

“
One that's not completely suicidal?” Danny asked. “We seem to have problems with that.”

“
Hey, I can't guarantee that,” Zach shrugged.

They played out the rest of the hand. Javy won the pot yet again.

“And this is why I fold a lot,” Xavier said.

“
Well, hopefully you can deal better than I could,” Zach said, handing over the deck to him. “I'm not having much luck today.”

“
Well, I can't say I'm sad about what happened,” Danny said. “You had most of the Valkyries at your end, so our job was a walk in the park.”

“
So says the guy that was flying around in the helicopter barking orders,” Javy said.

“
Yeah, that's true. What happened to you fighting up on the front lines?” Xavier asked.

Danny shrugged. “That will come later. I will say that being able to see the entire battlefield from the air helps immensely. It's much easier to see what's going on and where to move people.”

Xavier nodded. “I did notice that your orders were much faster. That can come in handy later on.”

“
Until they get antiaircraft guns,” Javy said. “It seems like it's turning into a pretty nasty arms race. We might not be able to stay ahead of them, either.”

“
Speaking of that, have you talked with Shayna about the quests in Old Chicago?” Gavin asked.

“
No, what about them?” Zach asked.

“
There's huge areas of the city that are devoted to NPC quests. Like faction warfare between gangs, corporations and stuff. But you can earn schematics, weapons and the like by completing them,” Gavin detailed.

Danny looked up in surprise. “Say what?” he asked. He could see that the others were confused and shocked as well.

“Well, they're not especially powerful. Nothing like the stuff we've gotten by raiding bunkers and the like, but it's good stuff anyhow. We might be able to grab some useful things out of it.”

“
How long do they take? The quests, I mean,” Xavier asked.

Gavin shrugged. “I have no idea. They don't seem to be the main point of the game. They're probably some sort of crutch to get lower level players going until they could expand outside of the safe zones.”

“Except we ran everything completely off the rails,” Danny mused. “Come to think of it, taking a stronghold on the first day had to throw the developers for a loop. Not to mention finding the overdrive formula. That probably helped Ragnarok out as well.”

“
So someone spent thousands of hours designing this beginners system, only to have it ruined within a few hours by you guys?” Javy asked. “That's got to be completely demoralizing.”

“
How did we manage to run it so far off that rails?” Zach said as he took a drink. “Everything just felt so natural.

The beta probably had something to do with it, Danny thought to himself. He, Zach and Selene had been beta testers and had extensive experience with the combat system by the time the full game had come out. When they had entered the game they had quickly formed into a fighting unit that was experienced and well-versed in how to fight, even without the aim assist. They had been strong enough to take out a small platoon dug into a fortified position with help from Miko.

That raised several questions, however. The biggest one was how the game was training them. It was natural that they would be better fighters because of their experience. However, that didn't just extend to their aim or their knowledge of their abilities.

It was most apparent in the way they fought. All three of them had noticed that they were far more aggressive than newer players, both in the tactical sense and the strategic sense. Sensible, conservative logic would have them performing NPC quests and killing low level monsters in the outskirts to slowly increase their level in strength. Instead, they had gone after a hard but valuable target right off the bat. And once they did so, they attacked in a forceful, vicious fashion. There was no sneaking, no trading shots with an enemy from long distance. He, Zach and Selene had hit the place head on, using their knowledge and abilities to win the day.

That was something that couldn't be taught, but had to be learned. There were a lot of things that were like that. Shooting was one of them, driving was another. Except for a class exclusive power, there were no abilities to activate. For all intents and purposes they could be fighting a real world battle.

Danny had wondered about that. Miko had been the first one to question the motives of Elysium Visions and their study, and Danny had given it quite a bit of thought. The most likely explanation was that they wanted to make virtual world training a practical reality. It was an attractive option, if all the kinks were worked out. Most of the costs would be up front in developing a training program, and it would require minimal maintenance. It could be used to safely train people in situations that would normally be dangerous; for example, they could send firefighters into a burning building without actually exposing them to danger. It could also let people exercise their creativity in a world free from limitations.