Deception City: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 5) (10 page)

Certainly, Nora thought to herself, but they didn’t want to push too hard. Eventually Ragnarok would reach their tolerance point, and after that all bets were off. They might very well go after Magic Battalion in order to protect their economy, and while that would take vital troops from the south, it also could mean that Hydra would lose their important strategic base at Green Bay.

So many moving parts. So many different faces, each with their own way of doing things. That was their alliance’s gift and their curse. It was where their namesake came from: unlike a monolithic organization like Ragnarok, Hydra incorporated many different ways of fighting and thinking into a conglomeration.

And that was both a strength and a weakness. The heads might fight against each other, but when an enemy cut one off, another would appear to take its place. In the same way as a hydra replaced its heads, their alliance could adapt to the changing situation, drawing on new tactics and strategies when their previous attempts had failed.

But they faced an equally powerful foe. Ragnarok was like a force of nature, furious, unbending and unrelenting. Even the most brilliant minds and most determined fighters could fall under the sheer weight of its wrath.

That was their war though, pitting their skill against a formidable enemy. Would they come out on top, or would they be smashed aside? Only once the battle was joined would they know.

But they were close. Oh, so close.

David closed out the meeting. “That’s the basics of the plant. Battalion leaders will receive their specified orders, along with the start date of the offensive. Company commanders, you’ll be receiving instructions as well. Other than that, we’re ready to go. Good luck to everyone, and I’ll see you on the other end.”

Nora and Zach stood up and caught Anna’s eye. The preliminaries might be over, but they had a lot more to discuss before they were ready for show time.

“
A
lright guys
,” Anna said once Ghost Battalion’s officers had gathered in another part of the bastion, “let’s get down to business on our end of things.”

“You said that we’re going to be performing an amphibious landing,” Neil said. “Redd Foxx and Black Wolf are the only companies in the battalion with experience in that kind of thing. My guys and Barghest are flying blind. Are we going to get practice?”

“It might also be a good idea for the rest of us to get a refresher course,” Nora suggested. “The last time we did one was a couple of months ago, after all.”

Anna nodded. “And we will. But we have about a week until the operation kicks off, and we’re getting some new equipment.”

“The helicopters, you mean,” Robbie said.

“Not just that,” Karen said. “Not a lot of people know about this, but the Hephaestus team in Green Bay has been working on a special project in the dockyards. They’ve designed a proper landing craft and put it into full-scale production.”

Nora frowned. She had heard nothing about this new development, though doubtless the military council wanted to keep tight wraps on certain information. Still would it hurt more than it helped in this case? This didn’t leave them much time to practice with the new equipment, and she voiced those concerns.

“Should be simple enough,” Anna said. “They’re based on our river craft, so they use the same engines, controls and steering systems. It’s just a matter of adapting to the different size. It should be just fine.”

“Should,” Neil echoed, letting the word hang in the air for a moment. “A lot of things
should
go right.”

“I agree with Neil,” Zach said. “We at least need to have some experience working with the new landing craft, otherwise we’ll probably end up swimming for shore.”

“Speaking of that,” Nora added, “are we going to send in combat swimmers?”

“That’s a question for you, actually,” Anna said. “You guys have the most experience with the diving gear. Do you think sending in frogmen is practical?”

Zach and Nora looked at each other.

“We’re already down Bravo Platoon,” Zach said. “That means we’ll only have one of our platoons committed to the attack. If we cut down that number even further by taking, say, a squad, are we even going to have an effective fighting force?”

“If we’re going to do it, we should use the entire platoon,” Nora said. She looked back over at Anna. “You’ll have to decide whether that’s worth it or not.”

“If we do try, can you provide enough disruption to get us ashore?” she asked pointedly.

“We’ll be going in without heavy weapons or armored support. We’re not going to be able to hold out for long,” Zach reminded her. “But as long as you can relieve us relatively quickly, we should be fine.”

“But we’re going to need time to train as well,” Nora reminded them. At this point she was quite glad Selene’s platoon had been doing dive training under their own initiative. That would begin to pay dividends soon.

“And is this really worth it?” Neil asked. “We’re providing the initial distraction sure, but if all goes according to plan we’ll be going ashore into the teeth of the enemy defenses, which will be reinforced by more troops.”

Liz spoke up. “The distraction will take place before the main ground assault, but we won’t launch the actual attack until Dragon Battalion is committed. That will force Ragnarok to choose what part of the district they want to defend.”

“Still… that’s going to mean heavy casualties for us,” Neil said.

“It’s going to mean heavy casualties for everyone,” Karen said. “There’s no easy way into the city.”

Anna nodded. “I know that getting killed hurts a lot more because of the gameplay changes, but we can’t let that cripple us.”

“Oh, I’m not saying we shouldn’t do it. Just that we might need time to regain our strength afterward,” Neil clarified.

“Nothing new there,” Robbie said.

“Whatever the case, we’re going to need specialist training to pull this off,” Zach said.

“Right,” Anna agreed. “OK, our plan is as follows. Black Wolf will spearhead the attack with their frogmen, followed by troops from Redd Foxx, then Barghest. Spectre will stick to the river craft on the lake and provide fire support. Raven will provide air cover with their gunships. That means Barghest and Redd Foxx will need to get the most training with the new landing craft.”

“And we’ll need to do more diving practice,” Nora said.

“If I could make one last suggestion?” Zach said.

“Shoot,” Anna told him.

“We’re not going to do much good sitting off shore. I’d like for both Nora and myself to go in with the first wave.”

“Permission granted.”

Nora gave him a wry smile. “Gosh, you always find the best assignments for us, don’t you?”

“
Y
our exams came out normal
?” Xavier asked.

Zach nodded. “Yup. Everything’s been normal for me ever since we started. How about you?”

“Same here. I’ve actually been told that I’m in enviably good shape, both mentally and physically. For whatever that’s worth.”

“Yeah, I can definitely see them saying something like that,” Zach agreed. Xavier had one of the calmest, most even-keel personalities he had ever seen.

“Have you had anyone say anything to you about something like that?”

Zach paused for a moment. His conversation with President Starvos immediately came to mind, but he knew he should be sharing such sensitive information with a lot of people. He had already determined that, until he gave an answer, Nora was going to be the only other one to know.

“They’ve pretty much said I’m normal,” Zach told him. “Nothing exciting, but I’m pretty glad as well. I wouldn’t want to have any neurological problems or the like.”

“Or the perception ones,” Xavier observed. “Some of the side effects sound like they could really be a problem.”

“Did they tell you about them?” Zach asked.

Xavier shook his head. “No, I decided to read the manual one day for entertainment. There’s some interesting stuff buried in there, by the way, but the side effects were what I was really interested in.”

“How bad are they?”

“They’re not crippling or anything, and they’re not common either. It’s mostly minor things like having phantom senses. You know, like smelling things or hearing things that aren’t actually happen. Most people don’t experience them, and the few that do usually readjust in about five to ten minutes outside.”

“Still though,” Zach said, “even if it’s just minor and temporary, it’s kind of freaky to think about how much the device is altering your brain’s perception of things.”

“It’s kind of like a hallucinogen, so to speak,” Xavier said. “Making your brain perceive things that aren’t actually there.”

Zach frowned. “Put that way, is this really good for us? I mean, I know they tested the technology pretty thoroughly, but when you put it that way…”

“Well, it’s more of a comparison than anything else,” Xavier shrugged. “And I don’t think it’s a big deal, either. They’re very different, in my opinion.”

“How so?”

“You’ll have to ask Gavin about this, because I’m not a biologist, but I think that they’re two entirely different things, even if they’re having similar effects. With drugs it’s fundamentally altering the way your brain works, but with the tech it’s just presenting you with sensory input using your normal brain. If that makes sense, I mean.”

“Yeah, I’d say that sounds plausible,” Zach agreed. “Though I’m not much of an expert on this either. Where’s Gavin when you need him?”

“I know, right? But it’s all hypothetical anyway. I can’t imagine that they’d let technology like this out to the public if they hadn’t tested it first. I know that a lot of companies will try to get away with anything they can if it saves them money, but this seems like it’s something they wouldn’t want to mess with.”

Zach nodded. “Yeah, that’s what I was told when I was on the development team for the game. They tested the technology on simpler things like virtual tennis and basketball to work out some of the kinks.”

“Bet that wasn’t fun for the beta testers.”

“Well, they tested the technology on lab rats and monkeys first, then scaled it for the human brain. And they were pretty thorough about documenting everything too. The manual they gave me when I was programing was about as thick as a Chicago phone book.”

“Man, that’s a lot of info,” Xavier replied, shaking his head. “Did you have to read through it all?”

“I did,” Zach confirmed. “Not that I would have avoided it if it was optional. We’re talking about systems that have direct contact with a person’s brain, so I wanted to make sure everything worked correctly.”

“Even though you were just working with the communications system?”

Zach smiled. “Hey man, the communications system was one of the more complicated things to design. We had a lot of people working on it.”

“What made it so complicated?” Xavier asked. “Sorry if it sounds dumb, but I’m not exactly the brightest person when it comes to programing. Spreadsheets are the pinnacle of my knowledge.”

“Didn’t you use financial analysis software?” Zach asked. He remembered Xavier mentioned being a junior financial advisor sometime in the past.

“Well I used it, but that’s about it. I have no idea how it actually works,” Xavier told him.

“Fair enough,” Zach conceded.

That was the way with a lot of technology. The people who used it every day knew how to operate it, but didn’t understand its inner workings. It was for the professionals to handle the complicated inner working and ensure everything operate properly.

“The most complicated thing about it was the radio system, surprisingly,” Zach told him. “We started out having people hear it inside their heads, but that made a lot of the testers uncomfortable. It was too close to mimicking auditory hallucinations. So eventually, we switched to having the noise appear to come from the ear, because that feels more natural for the brain.”

“Something I’d never think about until it was mentioned to me,” Xavier said.

“And if we’re doing our jobs right you’d never have to think about it,” Zach replied. “Our goal is to make everything as seamless as possible.”

Xavier nodded. “I’d say you’ve done a pretty good job of it.” He paused for a moment. “So you’re going to be infiltrating the southernmost district by dive?”

Zach nodded. “Yeah, we’ll be coming into the Cudahy District underwater.”

“Won’t they see you swimming ashore once you get close?” Xavier pointed out. “That’s why we infiltrated at night.”

“We’re going to head for one of the piers while the initial bombardment of the landing beaches is happening,” Zach told him. “We’ll climb ashore and set up while they’re distracted, then go from there. If we can get a good enough beachhead we’ll have them offload at the pier. Otherwise, we’ll provide fire support while they go for the beach as originally planned.”

“Sounds like fun,” Xavier nodded. “Sounds pretty dangerous too. I don’t envy you guys one bit.”

Zach smiled. “Hey, I could say the same to you guys. You get to put out all the fires as they happen.”

Xavier grimaced. “Yeah, and I wished we had more troops to do it with. Oh well. At least we have the new helos and the gunships.”

“Yeah, you do. You have no idea how much I could bring that kind of covering fire along with us.”

Zach might have wished it, but that hope was nothing more than a pipe dream at this point. Bravo Wolf needed as much firepower as possible to fulfill their mission, and the gunships were the only thing that could keep up with them and provide sufficient support.

Besides, the airspace over Milwaukee wasn’t exactly conducive to air operations. Both Ragnarok and the NPC garrison had antiaircraft guns scattered throughout the city, and the skies themselves were patrolled by fighters. Even if Perseus Squadron challenged Ragnarok’s air superiority, there were no guarantees they could actually provide sufficient cover for the helos. And if they couldn’t, the transports and gunships would be sitting ducks.

“First time in a while we’re not going to be fighting as a single unit,” Xavier observed. “Way back when we were first scouting our way into Indianapolis, actually.”

“That seems like forever ago,” Zach agreed. “But we’ve done it before, and we’ll do it again. Besides, we have a lot more stuff to work with this time. Remember when we were just starting out with our helicopters and river craft.”

“Those were the days,” Xavier nodded with a nostalgic smile. “Come to think of it, we’re turning into a specialist company. Or, into an even more specialized company than we were before.”

“How so?” Zach asked him.

“Well, our platoon is turning into an air assault or paratrooper unit. And you guys are spearheading the attack on the beach. Does that make you marines?”

“Maybe?” Zach answered. “I haven’t really thought about it much, to be honest. I never thought about it being anything more than a title.”

By completing challenges within the battledomes of Old Chicago, players could acquire titles denoting certain skill sets. They didn’t mean much in gameplay terms other than bragging rights, but players chased after them regardless.

Ghost Battalion used them as part of their initiation rites. Anyone wanting to join had to complete the ranger challenge, focused on infiltration and light infantry combat. Most of the battalion leadership, including himself and Anna, believed that it gave them a certain edge. The other battalions were formidable in their own right, with considerable skill and firepower within their ranks, but there was a certain something within Ghost Battalion.

Esprit de corps, that’s what it was called. Zach had no doubt that the other battalions had strong bonds within and could fight with the best of them. But Ghost Battalion had bonds like steel chains. They knew that even the most junior members had proven themselves against difficult challenges, and they could depend on them to watch their backs.

That spirit had carried them through some of the worst battlefields anyone inside the world had experienced. Zach had no doubt their shared bond was what allowed them to endure Ragnarok’s savage onslaught at Green Bay. Even against overwhelming firepower, massive numbers and the sheer ferocity of Ragnarok’s best troops, Ghost Battalion had taken the best their enemies had to offer and gave back as good as they received.

And that spirit had rubbed off on some of the others as well. Thorn and Myrmidon Companies weren’t a part of the battalion, and weren’t even a part of the alliance at the time. But Ghost Battalion’s stalwart defense of the city had been infectious, and they had picked up some of the spirit as well. Magic Battalion might be new, but Lex and Evy were taking great pains to make sure their battalion had those same tight bonds.

All that, resulting from a simple shared title. Ghost Battalion still used the ranger challenge as an initiation rite, but most of them hadn’t taken up any of the others. Maybe it was time to change that.

“So are you thinking we’re a certain type of specialist unit?” Zach asked.

“Well, Redd Foxx is our stealth specialist company. Don’t tell Miko, but none of us are ever going to be able to come close to touching them.”

Zach smiled. “Yeah, she might take umbrage with that statement. Anna and Liz have both told me she’s as good as any of their troops.”

“Yeah, but the rest of us? I’m OK, but not great. And have you seen Danny trying to sneak around?”

He laughed as the image came to his mind. “Well, he’s passable, at least.”

“But that doesn’t quite measure up to Redd Foxx,” Xavier said with a smile of his own. “I have to credit Liz, though. He’s at least able to maintain some semblance of stealth.”

Zach couldn’t exactly blame Danny for his failings. He had been a heavy, after all, carrying bulky weapons and significant amounts of ammunition. Anyone lugging around that much equipment was bound to have trouble staying quiet. In fact, Redd Foxx’s heavies had shocked him when he watched them in action, precisely because they could move so quickly and quietly while carrying a significant load.

“So Redd Foxx is our stealth company,” Zach said. “I’d say Spectre is our reserve company. Barghest would be our support or heavy weapons company, and Raven is Raven. So what does that make us?”

“We seem to be the assault company, honestly,” Xavier said. “Think about it. We were the first ones onto the beach in Eagle Creek, the ones who charged the boss in Central City, and the ones holding the trenches against the worst Ragnarok attack on the Ghost Line.”

Zach nodded. “Yeah, and we seem to be becoming experts at rapid deployment too. Might be something to look into, actually. Everyone should be able to perform the basics, but it might be better for certain units to specialize in certain areas.”

“Makes sense,” Xavier agreed. He looked up as several of the other doors opened up. “Looks like the rest of them are done.”

And that meant they could move on to their next task for today.

S
hadows slipped
through the water as Black Wolf moved toward their objective. Zach watched his troops move through the underwater expanse of the reservoir, threading their way through forests of weeds and the occasional rocky outcropping. He wanted to make sure they were able to move smoothly, swimming quickly without causing too much of a disturbance.

One of the squads caught his eye, and he activated his radio. “Logan, the left end of your squad is lagging. See if you can have them speed up a bit.”

“Roger,” Logan replied, his voice sounding tinny in the confines of Zach’s diving gear.

Zach looked around at the other two squads, trying to make sure they were keeping up their steady pace. Ethan’s squad seemed to be doing the best, probably due to their previous training with the diving equipment. Gavin’s squad operated fairly smoothly as well, though Gavin had to stop more than once to get them back into formation. Logan’s squad seemed to be struggling the most, not always keeping cohesion. They weren’t terrible, but they needed work.

That was fine, though, because that’s why they were here, in the bottom of the Eagle Creek Reservoir. Alpha Wolf Platoon had temporarily transferred back to Indianapolis to undergo dive training for the attack on Milwaukee.

Zach had decided on this location for several reasons. First, it was deep in the heart of Hydra territory, away from prying eyes. As far as he could tell, Ragnarok didn’t realize they had diving equipment, even after their brazen raid on the port. Their commanders probably figured that Black Wolf had managed to sneak ashore by boat. If they could keep the element of surprise, that gave them a valuable trump card to play.

Second, the Eagle Creek Reservoir was much less prone to wild weather Lake Michigan. While the effects of wind and rain would be lessened while underwater, it would still mess with them when they tried to surface at the beach. Better to learn under ideal conditions and then learn how to deal with problems than to try perform an operation with troops that didn’t know what they were doing.