Deception City: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 5) (9 page)

And they couldn’t cover the huge expanse, either, without taking valuable troops off the front lines. Either Ghost Battalion would have free reign over Ragnarok’s supply lines, or they would have to withdraw significant portions of their strength from the main combat areas. That was, if they didn’t try to use some of the other options at their disposal.

“Wonder if they’ll try to use the Valkyries to patrol this area, once they figure out we’re planting bombs along the highway,” Danny mused out loud.

“Either that or using air patrols,” Joe suggested.

Neither option would be pleasant. Even among Ragnarok’s veteran troops, they Valkyries remained the most fearsome. They could do it all: scouting, infiltrations, defense, shock assaults and any other mission they might be called upon to perform.

Their forte remained straight combat, especially storm assaults, and Black Wolf had suffered their fury several times. Their first confrontation ended in disaster, with almost the entire company slaughtered in hand-to-hand combat. Their second fight produced better results, but Black Wolf had still come out the worse for wear. They had resisted a frontal assault by the skin of their teeth, killing many but losing many of their own as well.

And air patrols might not seem to be intimidating, but they could be damaging in their own right. No one had effective man portable antiaircraft weapons, which meant light infantry were at the mercy of a fighter bomber. The best they could do was to fire their machine guns and hope for some lucky hits.

Even without the danger from bombs and bullets, enemy planes could call in reinforcements, and Ragnarok had several rapid deployment units. They lacked the sheer speed and versatility of Ghost Battalion’s helicopter transports, but the ATV squadrons could still get to places quickly and spoil their plans.

But that was why this bomb was so important, and why they were spending so much time and effort getting it right. If they could kill a convoy with it, they could plant the seed in their enemy’s mind and use smaller bombs to keep them on their toes. Even if those killed only a truck or two, they would be a stark reminder that something deadly could be lurking just below the surface.

Fear was a deadly enemy and an even deadlier tool when utilized properly. Danny wasn’t certain they could make Ragnarok cower, but they could at least make them wary. Even the smallest bit of hesitation could be enough to turn the tables.

Such an underhanded, vicious game, he thought to himself with an inner smile. World at War’s nature had been discussed at length during their interview sessions with Elysium Visions. President Starvos had pointed out that World at War wasn’t merely focused on combat, but included significant political and psychological elements as well. Battles were often dictated by backroom politics, and could be swung by intimidation, arrogance or heroics as much as tactics or strategy.

That suited him just fine. Danny was currently finishing his doctorate in philosophy, and found the whole thing fascinating. Here they were in a world completely shaped by the player base, a place that could be molded to fit any number of philosophies. He could identify many coming to the forefront. Machiavelli, Nietzsche, Clausewitz, Hobbes, even Kant to some degree. Everyone had their way in this new world.

But still one set of set of rules reigned supreme above all else: kill or be killed. The large alliances, the most successful groups in this world were the ones that could ruthlessly exploit their advantages, whether they were technological, military, political or economic. They could manipulate human emotions to their advantage. Fear, hope, anger, determination, those were all tools in the arsenal of every war machine.

“Looks like we’re getting set,” Joe said.

Danny nodded. “Let’s finish this off and get out of here,” he told the others.

He went back to work, resuming his thoughts. The most successful in this world were the most ruthless. And when two sides with those characteristics collided, there could be only one outcome.

Carnage.

E
ven with only a limited
selection of attendees, the council room was crowded. They had more room at Hydra Headquarters in Indianapolis, but Nora understood the decision to host the meeting here at Lerna Bastion. Most of the battalion commanders would have to travel a long way to get there, a significant amount of time even with the railway. But meeting at the bastion cut that obstacle down considerably.

And it wasn’t like they were crammed in like sardines. They had enough room to comfortably sit around the large conference table, and the size of the room meant everyone could hear each other without shouting. Still, it felt cramped to her, although that might have been due to the increase in attendees.

The meeting had been called by the military council, incorporating every battalion command as well. After weeks of preparation, they finally had a concrete plan for the next offensive against Ragnarok.

Black Wolf had played a significant role during that time performing, interdiction and reconnaissance missions. Their raids on Ragnarok’s supply lines, in particular, had caused a great deal of damage. Tons of equipment and ammunition had been destroyed by ambushes and roadside bombs, forcing their enemy to patrol their supply routes to cut down on their losses.

Meanwhile, the other battalions had been putting pressure on Ragnarok in their areas as well. Knight Battalion fought along the borders of Hydra, Ronin and Ragnarok territory, putting pressure on the extreme flank and holding one side of their enemy’s tenuous corridor to Old Chicago. Dragon Battalion pressed the northeastern end of the corridor, and maintained the closest front to Milwaukee. Rogue Battalion hadn’t been assigned to any particular front, but their armored units remained Hydra’s best offensive force, and Ragnarok had to account for them.

And the newly formed Magic Battalion held the area around Green Bay. They were proving to be a thorn in the enemy’s side, raiding their resource producing areas and providing another possible route of attack that had to be accounted for.

Looking over the current situation, Ragnarok Company looked to be in an unenviable position. They still had the numbers advantage, but its effectiveness had been dramatically lessened. They had to cover three possible avenues of attack, along with guarding their rear areas, and that caused a significant drain on their manpower resources. Right now, they were definitely on the defensive.

The Hydra Alliance still retained the initiative, and that gave them several options. They could make a straight thrust for Madison, launching their invasion from Knight Battalion’s holdings. They could squeeze the Old Chicago corridor from both sides, which would force Ragnarok into a battle. They couldn’t afford to lose their lifeline, which meant Hydra knew they would come out and fight.

Hydra could also launch attacks from Green Bay, although that possibility was restricted by the amount of supplies they could bring in by water. They only had two ships on Lake Michigan, which meant they probably couldn’t supply more than a few extra companies.

Their fourth and final option would be an attack on Milwaukee, snatching it from their enemy’s grasp and establishing another port from which they could operate. The city also contained a considerable amount of industrial assets, which could add even more fuel to their fire.

Whoever gained control of the city would have the upper hand, because they could leverage the resources into influence and power. That made this choice the only practical one. The Hydra Alliance would invade Milwaukee from the south, pouring their efforts toward the capture of the city. Now, they needed to hammer out just how they were going to do it.

David stood up and called the meeting to order. “Hello, everyone, and thanks for coming. We’re in the last stages of finalizing our plans for our next offensive operation against Ragnarok. We’ll be presenting them to you to see what the rest of you think.”

“Bear in mind that, after a ton of discussion, we think this is the best course of action,” Cody said. “If we have to make drastic changes to the plan, then we’ll have to scrap the operation until further notice.”

Anna stood up next. “Alright, Ghost Battalion has performed a significant amount of reconnaissance along the front, assisted by Dragon Battalion. Shoutout to Crimson Eagle, by the way. They’ve been a great help.”

“Our pleasure,” C.J. nodded.

“Anyhow, we’ve determined that Ragnarok holds three of the seven districts in the city, all in the south.”

“Wouldn’t it have made more sense for them to come in from the north or the west instead?” Evy, captain of Thorn Company, said. “It seems like they’re taking the long way around, and what for?”

Anna nodded. “That seemed odd to me at first, but there might be a simple explanation. If they could get the southern districts, they could cut us off from the rest of the city.”

“Assuming that we didn’t attack them and take them away,” Aaron of Band of Brothers pointed out.

“Honestly, I think they were relying on their numbers to win the battle for them,” David said. “They thought they had enough troops to fight both the city garrison and hold off us. But we got so much push in the initial offensive that their plan just shattered right in front of them without warning.”

“And then we stalled out,” Cody said.

“To be fair, that happened when Ronin ditched us,” Gina of Grizzly Company said.

“Yeah, that’s right when it happened,” Cody agreed.

Maybe, Nora thought to herself, but Cody’s dislike of Ronin Company was on full display as well. Many in the alliance had a standoffish relationship with Ronin, mostly due to personality clashes with its captain, Levi, but Cody had a particular axe to grind. Nora had been there when Levi had tried to organize the first group to fight Ragnarok, only to have it collapse due to infighting and egos. Cody, in particular, didn’t like Levi’s way of handling things, and he especially didn’t like being told what to do.

It surprised her that Cody had brought Marauder into the Hydra Alliance, and surprised her even more that he had first risen to battalion command and then to the military council. At first blush, it didn’t seem to fit his style, especially his resistance to higher authority that she had witnessed. But maybe it was because of their methods. The original five members of the alliance had gone to great pains to invite others to the alliance, not demand their allegiance. They had also offered them significant incentives to join, promising the vast technological and economic resources at Hydra’s disposal.

It had worked, and Hydra’s numbers had swelled dramatically. Now, with firm control of their own city, they could challenge the normally unassailable Ragnarok Company on equal footing.

Ronin had managed to survive and bring a few more allies into its fold, though Nora didn’t quite know how they had managed that feat. Regardless of how, the fact remained that they were still alive, and that presented a significant wildcard. Hydra couldn’t rely on them as steady allies, but then again Ragnarok couldn’t bank on them staying on the sidelines either.

Regardless, they wouldn’t be influencing the battlefield anytime soon. Danny had heard through his friends in the grapevine that Ronin was aiming for Davenport, trying to establish a base of their own before the other two alliances swallowed them up. That took them out of the battle, but Hydra wasn’t counting on them. They had learned long ago that the two sides had vastly different agendas.

Nora couldn’t fault Ronin for that, because Hydra had used them as pawn plenty of times in the past. As far as she knew they remained none the wiser, but two could always play the same game. She guessed Ronin was using them as a distraction this time, fully occupying Ragnarok’s attention while they took Davenport.

But that was fine. The alliance had enough resources to meet Ragnarok on equal footing, and they were looking forward to the slugging match.

Nora’s attention drifted back to the conversation unfolding in front of her.

“Back to business,” Anna said. “One of our recon units discovered a large hole in the wall of the southernmost district,” she said, bringing up the photographs on the projector.

“Undermined,” she heard Yusuf mutter.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought when I first looked at it,” Zach agreed. “Looks like they couldn’t breach it with artillery or go around it like we did.”

“Or scale it,” Cody said.

Karen looked over at him. “Would you want to try to climb those walls?” she asked. “They’re thirty feet high.”

“And really thick,” added Shayna of Jackal Company.

Nora nodded. While looking for a possible city to invade, Redd Foxx had scouted Milwaukee. They quickly deemed the attack next to impossible due to their lack of troops and the extremely tough defenses around the city. Instead, they had attacked a small town with no wall, and from there built their forces and bided their time.

Even with the significant resources at their disposal, breaching a wall like that remained difficult. Luckily, Ragnarok had already done most of the hard work for them.

“We think this is our best bet to break into the city,” Gina said.

“But won’t they expect that?” Evy asked. “It seems like the most obvious solution, so they should be heavily guarding it.”

“Right, but we have other options as well, and Ragnarok has to cover their bases,” Gina elaborated. “Distractions and feints might be able to draw away significant amount of defenders.”

Anna nodded and picked up where she left off. “Ghost Battalion has been planting those seeds in the enemy’s mind. We’ve been raiding the coastline, destroying their naval forces, blowing up shore defenses, that kind of thing. And that points to one possibility.”

“Amphibious assault,” David finished. “Everything Ghost Battalion has been doing points to an amphibious assault along one of the Milwaukee coastal districts. It lets us get on the ground and in the city without having to either break down a wall or push ourselves through a narrow breach.”

“I’d imagine it’s tough getting onshore, though,” Aaron said.

Nora tried not to make a face. He didn’t know the half of it. Ghost Battalion had performed an amphibious assault before with wild success. Black Wolf had spearheaded the attack, coming under withering fire from the defenders. Through a combination of skill determination and aggression they had overrun the beach defenses and paved the way for other units to land.

Those had been NPC troops, though, which couldn’t come close to matching the ability of veteran players. Even so, Nora remained confident they could force a landing. Their enemy might be tougher, but Ghost Battalion had a lot more firepower as well. They had proven their toughness during the last major raid, getting Redd Foxx ashore to wreak havoc.

Doubtless Ragnarok would remember that and be prepared to counter such an attempt. But every soldier they place on the beach was one that wasn’t guarding the southern approaches.

And that’s where the hammer blow would fall the hardest.

“The amphibious force isn’t going to be the main axis of attack,” David elaborated. “They’ll go in first to serve as a distraction. We’ll have them just offshore, making it look like they’re preparing for an attack. That should draw at least some of the enemy reserves to the beaches. Meanwhile, our main attack will be focused on taking the breach in the wall and forcing our way into the city.”

“Dragon Battalion is going to be assigned to this task, along with reinforcements from Knight and Rogue Battalions,” Cody said. “We’ll be spearheading the attack and tasked with taking the breach. Once that happens, the rest of our forces will push into the city and start fighting their way through to the capture point.”

“Most of our assault guns will be committed to this attack,” Gina said. “As for our armored cavalry, you’ll be helping to hold both sides of the Ragnarok corridor to Old Chicago. Urban streets are a deathtrap for APCs, so you’ll be better off on open ground.”

“Sacred Sword will be deploying alongside Dragon Battalion for the duration of the attack.”

There were some murmurs around the room at that announcement.

“Won’t that leave the western part of the front pretty weak?” someone asked.

“Like Gina said, we’re going to be deploying Rogue’s armored cavalry in those areas,” David said. “So while we may lose some of our numbers, we’ll gain the combat power of their vehicles.”

Anna spoke up again. “Plus, we have some more options for reinforcing our fronts. As some of you are aware, Hephaestus has started mass production on a new model of helicopter for Ghost Battalion, which can carry more cargo and more troops. Our plan is to keep Bravo Platoon of Black Wolf Company as a mobile reserve, able to be quickly deployed to any hotspots.”

“Just a platoon?” Evy asked.

Nora decided to speak up. “It’ll be a pretty heavily reinforced platoon, all things considered. They’ll have a significant number of helicopter gunships with them, since we don’t want to risk large numbers of them over Milwaukee.”

Gunships were powerful assets, but they remained extremely vulnerable to antiaircraft fire. RPGs were especially dangerous in an urban environment, because teams could duck in and out of buildings and then ambush the helicopters from anywhere. So while their air support might be valuable, the danger was too great to risk many of them. Only the most experienced pilots would be allowed to operate over the city. The others would work in other sectors, providing much-needed firepower.

Anna nodded in agreement with Nora’s statement. “Remember, their role is to tip the battle in our favor, not to win the battle by themselves. We have plenty of confidence in the troops that will be holding the flanks.”

A wise statement, Nora thought as she surveyed the sea of faces, and one that needed to be proven true. If Ragnarok managed to smash their way through the flanks, they could potentially cut off the bulk of Hydra’s forces from their supply lines.

Lex finally spoke up. “What’s Magic Battalion’s role in all this?”

“Continued harassment,” David told him. “Keep hitting their vital areas. Draw as much strength as you can, and if you can’t do that, then do some damage. We want to make them howl.”