Deception City: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 5) (3 page)

That was one of the biggest dangers. Nora had seen the effect of a dive bombing attack on a transport ship, and the results had been devastating. One hit, one explosion, and tons and tons of essential equipment had been at the bottom of the lake.

The risk had lessened somewhat, due to Hydra forming their own air wing with a schematic acquired by doing quests inside Old Chicago. They had a squadron of Gale fighters to provide air cover, but their planes were still inferior to Ragnarok’s machines. Perseus Squadron often came out on the worse end of things after a tangle with Ragnarok units.

“That’s why we’re doing this,” Anna continued. “And that’s likely why Ragnarok’s spending so much time and effort trying to get their hands on Milwaukee. If we capture the city we have them hemmed in on three sides, with the ability to supply and reinforce any one of the fronts. We can also probably cut their link to Old Chicago.”

“Provided they don’t crush us first,” C.J. said. “They’ve been making probing attacks at Waukegan.”

“We think that’s a distraction,” David replied. “A lot like what we did with Ghost Battalion around Green Bay. They’ll draw our attention long enough for their other forces to capture the real prize.”

That’s how things had started out for them, Nora thought with an amused smile, but oh how quickly they could change. The front in the far north had gone from a secondary distraction to an all-out brawl for control of Green Bay. And all of that had happened because Ghost Battalion refused to abandon their Thorn and Myrmidon allies to their fate.

It had all worked out in the end. Thorn and Myrmidon both joined Hydra after seeing the staunch defense Ghost Battalion had fought on their behalf, and Green Bay was now an important base in their strategic plans. But their gambit might very well be turned against them, if they didn’t do something relatively soon.

“We’re not going to be distracted,” Anna said. “Ragnarok’s target is Milwaukee, and we’re going to take it first. We’ve cleared the way for us to use naval landing forces along the coastline. We can dispute control of the air. We have artillery to challenge them from a distance.”

“But the NPC garrison is still active,” Aaron pointed out. “Won’t they continue to launch attacks until they’re all taken out?”

Murmurs filled the room. One of the biggest obstacles in Indianapolis had been the repeated counterattacks by the NPC garrison. Hydra had to invest a considerable amount of resources to keep their previously captured districts safe from attack.

“That could actually work in our favor,” Karen said. “It forces Ragnarok to fight two enemies at once.”

“That cuts both ways. Or maybe three ways,” Aaron said.

“We can adapt,” Anna said. “Regardless, the capture of Milwaukee is our top priority. We can secure more resources for ourselves while simultaneously dealing a crippling blow to Ragnarok.”

The room started to buzz with conversation. David held up his hand for silence.

“We’re in the initial stages of planning for this attack,” he said. “Once we have a concrete plan we’ll bring it in front of the military council for approval.”

Not that it would be difficult, Nora thought to herself. David, Anna and Karen were all on the military council, and they were definitely on board. They could probably convince most if not all of the others as well.

“We’ll begin preliminary recon work over the next few days,” Anna said.

Ghost Battalion’s officers looked at each other.

“How did I know that was going to happen?” Neil of Spectre Company commented.

“Because that’s how we roll?” Robbie offered.

It was indeed. One of Hydra’s greatest strengths was planning, and that took a considerable amount of effort to achieve. It required precise, up to date information, and the task of gathering that fell to the recon elements of the alliance. They had air observation units, but most of the reconnaissance duties fell on Ghost Battalion, due to their infiltration skills.

“I’m guessing we’re going to have another meeting after this,” Zach commented. “We’ll need to get a plan of action together.”

And that plan depended on how they wanted to proceed. Ghost Battalion was capable of performing several mission profiles. They could stay stealthy and silent, merely observing and gathering information. They could perform reconnaissance in force, probing the enemy and looking for weak points in the defenses. They could raid, weakening the enemy and forcing them to dedicate resources to protect their rear area.

And if push came to shove they could brawl on the front lines, though they lacked the sheer fury of Dragon Battalion, the armor of Rogue or the unflappable stalwartness of Knight. They could still fight with the best of them, though, even if it was their choice of last resort.

But Nora had a feeling they wouldn’t be asked to do that much. No, with two Ghost Battalion members on the military council, command likely had plans for them utilizing their quick-strike and infiltration abilities.

Business was certainly about to pick up.

T
he sounds
of tools and construction filled the air. Various elements of the occupying force were hard at work performing maintenance, making modifications and customizing their equipment.

Selene walked along the Racine docks, watching as the engineers went to work on their river craft.

No, she remembered, engineers didn’t exist anymore under the new system. Anyone who wanted to perform maintenance could do so long as they had the proper experience and skills.

That helped their logistical situation quite a bit. Under the old system maintenance fell on their engineer corps, which limited the amount of work they could actually do. Now they could fill in the void with other players. Everyone could learn at least enough to do their part, even if they weren’t the best at it. Hephaestus Company still remained head and shoulders above them all, but at least the others could help pull their weight.

They needed it too, because Ghost Battalion used a lot of work-intensive equipment. Their river craft and helicopters were powerful resources to call upon in the midst of battle, but they required a significant amount of maintenance to keep them functioning properly. The last thing they needed was a mechanical problem or an engine failure in the middle of a fight.

But maintenance work didn’t just cover repairs and replacements. Everyone knew they were in an arms race with Ragnarok Company, and they wanted to have the biggest, baddest guns at their disposal. Experiments, new ideas, all were welcome in the pursuit of that goal.

Selene walked by a Hephaestus crew fitting a pair of twin autocannons to the bow turret of a river craft. They fired slower than a minigun or heavy machine gun, but their shells packed more of a punch, capable of taking out even light vehicles and some fortified positions.

Hydra had plenty of new weapons to spare, but lacked the industrial ability to deploy them all. Many of the designs required resources they had no way to access at the moment. Others could be built, but their current utility remained questionable. And then there were those that would take far too many resources to deploy.

Paige from Hephaestus Company had explained the conundrum to her. Even with their considerable capabilities, Hydra only had a finite amount of industry they could use at once. It couldn’t just be used to create new weapons, because the alliance required more than that. They needed ammunition for their small arms, shells for their artillery and mortars, replacement parts, new weapons, armored vehicles, and dozens more types of equipment to keep fighting. Most of their industrial capability was geared toward that end, leaving only a small amount for research and development.

They had a plan for a massive railway gun, for example, but it would never come to fruition. Sure, it could lob massive shells from Indianapolis to Chicago, but they could have two patrol ships or dozens of 155mm guns for the amount of resources they would have to sink into it.

And that was the reality of World at War: it was all about efficiency, about finding the best ways to fight with the resources you had on hand. Superweapons simply didn’t exist, or if they did they were mostly economic.

Selene glanced at a collection of crates being loaded onto another river craft for transport into Old Chicago. Sure enough, they had been marked with the overdrive symbol. That brought back a flood of memories to her.

Black Wolf Company had raided a small bunker in their early days and found the schematic after a tough boss fight. Nora was the first one to truly understand the formula’s true potential. Combat stimulants had been in high demand during those days, and overdrive was the best by far. Black Wolf had made themselves rich by producing it and selling the drug to the highest bidder.

Ragnarok had been one of the primary users of overdrive, and their war with the Hydra Alliance had hurt them deeply to start. Their newer recruits were especially reliant on the drug to improve their combat performance, and thus had suffered heavily against the more experienced and skilled Hydra troops. They had adapted, though, and now the issue remained nonexistent.

Combat stimulants had fallen out of favor with the large alliances, but smaller groups still liked to use them to give themselves an edge. The drug itself remained a valuable commodity, even as Hydra’s main source of income had switched from overdrive to ammunition sales. It still made them a good amount of cash every time they put it on the market, and as an unessential item they could sell it without any qualms.

But that issue was for the quartermasters, for the producers in Hephaestus Company and the logistics officers within each battalion. Selene’s focus was on the combat side of things, and she needed to have her platoon ready for action. They’d be seeing plenty of it soon.

Reconnaissance sounded like a simple job, but Selene knew it would be no easy task. Information was power in this world, and Ragnarok knew it. They would do everything in their power to deprive Hydra of that knowledge, whether by deception or by brute force.

Selene worried about running into some of Ragnarok’s light infantry units. She fully believed that Ghost Battalion was the best light infantry in World at War, but Ragnarok’s troops didn’t lag far behind. They could fight any unit from Ghost on relatively even terms, and that wasn’t counting some of their more elite units.

There were the Valkyries, of course, the longtime foes that had dogged them for months. But now Ragnarok had started to form more elite units, and if their names weren’t famous now they certainly would be in a short time. Ymir. Fenris. Hydra had only tangled with them a few times, but they already noted their combat prowess.

But then again, that was part of the experience of World at War. Everyone wanted to be the best, everyone wanted to win, and they’d do whatever it took to stay on top. Part of the thrill of the game was going up against tough opposition and seeing if you could come out the winner. Selene certainly relished the challenge. Even they lost, the experience would make them better.

Her wrist alert went off. “Alpha Wolf, I’m sending a team with the Hephaestus unit heading to Old Chicago, if that’s alright with you,” Logan said. “They’re going to help unload once the get there.”

“That’s fine,” Selene told him. “We’re not expecting much today, and Redd Foxx is on guard duty.”

“Roger that.”

She walked past another pair of boats, these ones filled with more Black Wolf troops wearing scuba gear. Their leader waved at her.

“Heading out,” Ethan told her.

“Practice?” she asked.

“Yeah, we’re going to get some underwater infiltration practice in,” he replied. “Don’t want to get left behind by the rest of you.”

Selene laughed. “Hey, don’t sweat it. We were the only ones crazy enough to try something new like that.”

“Behind enemy lines, no less. But like I said, we want to be able to do that too.”

“Careful where you do it,” Selene warned. “There’s razormouths in the water at several points, and trust me when I say you do not want to be on the business end of one of those things. Check the water before you get in.”

“Can’t we kill them?”

Selene shrugged. “You might be able to chuck a grenade or two into the water, but don’t count on that killing them all. I’d rather take my chances finding another spot.”

Ethan gave her a thumbs up. “Thanks for the advice.”

Selene watched the river craft start up and speed away from the dock with a satisfied smile on her face. She felt it in the air around her. After months of close-calls and hanging by a thread, there was suddenly a sense of optimism in the air. With it came a new energy, and the effect was contagious.

Maybe part of it was due to the new update. The lifting of class restrictions made anything possible, and players wanted to take advantage of it. Everyone seemed enthusiastic, wanting to learn something new, do something different to expand their horizons. With a world of possibilities ahead of them, who wouldn’t be caught up in the wave?

She came across Gavin next, studying his wrist menu map. “Anything interesting?” Selene asked.

Gavin looked up and shook his head. “Eh, not really. I’m mostly trying to figure out what are best scouting routes will be.”

Selene nodded. “We’re going to have to make some probes at the Ragnarok line. Or maybe we can just go around it.”

“I have a feeling it’s not going to be that easy,” he replied. “We’re going to have to be careful. Of course, that probably sounds real rich, coming from me.”

“Just a bit,” Selene agreed. Gavin had acquired a bit of a reputation as a daredevil, and that had gotten him killed more than once. Selene still remembered him charging a mech suit, trying to stick it with an anti-tank grenade. The machine had chopped him in half for his trouble, but no one could doubt his courage. Either that, or he was insanely reckless.

“But really, Ragnarok knows a lot of tricks we have up our sleeve,” Gavin said. “Don’t you think they’d be prepared for incursions from the lake?”

“Sure, but they can’t cover everywhere at once,” Selene said, pointing to the map. “They have to contain us here, at Racine. Knight Battalion is fighting them along their supply corridor to Old Chicago, and Dragon is pushing at them further to the west. And then we have Rogue as our strategic reserve.”

“Plus they have Magic Battalion in the far north, as well as the Milwaukee garrison to contend with,” Gavin finished. “Yeah, that’s a lot of ground to cover, but you’d still think they’d spend a lot of time on the lakefront.”

“Maybe they underestimate just what we can do.”

“After that raid on their district in Milwaukee? I think that’s a pretty good reminder of what we can do,” Gavin replied.

“OK, so they probably know what’s up,” Selene admitted. “That still doesn’t mean they can stop us. They have one hundred miles of lakefront to cover.”

“Yet only a fraction of that actually helps us,” Gavin said.

“Gosh, you’re a downer today,” Selene said. “What gives?”

Gavin shrugged. “I don’t know. Aren’t you supposed to be the one worrying about all the angles?”

“Actually, I think that’s Zach’s job. Or maybe Anna’s since she’s battalion commander.”

Gavin laughed. “Ah, passing the buck up the chain of command, eh? Well, I can’t blame you. I just have this feeling about the whole operation.”

Selene frowned. “Define ‘feeling’ for me. The way you said it could mean anything.”

“Well, let’s see,” Gavin said thoughtfully. “I guess the best way to put it is that this whole situation we’re in seems kind of odd, I guess. We’ve always been on the back foot against Ragnarok. Even when we’ve gone on the offensive it seems like they still retain the momentum.”

“And now that we’ve taken control it feels weird, is that right?” Selene asked him.

“I guess so,” Gavin agreed. “Well, it’s like we’re just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Like, I can’t help but think they have some trick up their sleeve to surprise us.”

Selene thought for a moment. “If this is a trick, I can’t see the use for it,” she told him. “We’ve taken a lot of territory since we launched the offensive. It’s put them on the defensive, and we’re really starting to squeeze them. I don’t think they would have let this happen on purpose.”

“Right, and my feelings don’t make total sense,” Gavin agreed. “I just have a little voice in the back of my head saying something’s up. Why are they still trying to take Milwaukee when they could be using those troops to hit back at us? Especially now that Ronin’s gone.”

“Who knows,” Selene shrugged. “But that’s for our strategists to worry about. We’ll deal with the issues on the ground.”

“Right,” Gavin grinned. “One of the advantages to not being a high ranking officer.”

Selene smiled back to reassure him. “We’ll be fine. But do what you think is best.”

Gavin nodded and went back to his studies. Selene continued on into the heart of the forward base.

It was amazing just how far they had come from the early days. In the beginning, Hydra had struggled to take even a small town. The battle for the location that would become Lerna Bastion had been won by the skin of their teeth, with a huge chunk of their forces killed in the battle. In contrast, the same number of troops had taken Racine without much trouble. Sure, there had been casualties, but the outcome never seemed in doubt to her.

Part of that was due to their vastly better equipment. Selene passed by a battery of 155mm howitzers aimed toward the north. Artillery had given them a head start in the battle and allowed them opportunities to advance. In the old days, they had to storm ahead on the ground if they ran into a particularly tough enemy position. Now, they could simply call a rain of shells down onto it.

They had other tricks up their sleeve as well. After months of street fighting, everyone in the alliance was an expert at urban warfare. They knew all the angles and tricks, and could exploit them to their full effect. The alliance had access to armor, air and naval support, further tipping the scales in their favor. Ghost Battalion could move anywhere quickly thanks to their helicopter transports and river craft, and once they got there they could bring heavy firepower to bear.

Yet for all their formidable equipment, skill and ability, Ragnarok remained a daunting foe. Gavin’s attitude might have been a bit extreme, but his basic sense was right. Ragnarok wasn’t filled with fools or chumps: they could fight with the best this world had to offer, and given an opening they could quickly turn the tables back in their favor. The Hydra Alliance needed to keep them on their toes, but they also needed to do so with caution in mind. One misstep could give their enemy exactly what they wanted.

The prospect excited her, though. Milwaukee was shaping up to be one of the critical battles in the war between the alliances, and she would have a front row seat to the action. Selene had always been a competitor, and she took Ragnarok as yet another challenge. No beating on weaklings for her. She wanted to go up against the best, and she wanted to beat them at their own game.

Her hair fluttered in the breeze as two helicopters took off and circled over the area once, then headed west. Selene could see minigun pods mounted on the stub wings. Obviously someone out there needed air support.