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

“Still, you bring up a good point,” Danny replied. “Might want to make mention of it to Anna.”

“One step ahead of you there, although the same could be said of her,” Liz said. “Of course she thought of it before I did.”

“It’s still good to bring things up like that, just to make sure,” Danny said. “The one time you don’t do it is the one time they didn’t think of it.”

“Yeah. So-” Liz paused midsentence. “Go ahead.”

Danny listened in on his end.

“Fox Lead, Bravo Wolf, we’re sending you images from the southern wall. You might want to see this.”

Danny opened up the holographic projector as the video feed came in. He took one look at the image, and-

“Look at the size of that,” Liz said.

Danny refrained from making a snarky comment. “Well, that’s certainly an interesting development,” he said. “That changes a lot.”

It did, indeed. The video feed made one thing apparent: there was a huge breach in the wall, easily big enough to drive a tank through.

“Well, now we know how they got in,” Liz said.

“That might be our ticket in as well.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Liz said. “They know darn well that’s the weakest point in their defenses. I’m willing to bet it’s mined, or at least surrounded by a ton of troops.”

“We just need a crazy assault team that’s willing to charge into the breach.”

“Yeah, and I’m sure we’re just going to pull one out of thin air. Who’s suicidal enough to charge into someplace like that?”

“Plenty of people,” Danny said. “They used military units like that for storming breaches back in the early modern era.”

“Uhuh. Back when they were carrying flintlock muskets and not fully automatic guns,” Liz said. “My point still stands.”

“Maybe we can come up with a breaching vehicle?” Danny suggested.

“I’m not the one to ask about that. Besides, we can deal with this once we get the information back to base.”

Danny settled in and looked back at the video feed. They had a lot of information to gather before they were done here.

“
G
ood find
,” Zach said as he, Nora and Selene looked over the images Danny’s scout contingent had gathered.

“It at least gives us an option for getting into the city,” Danny said. “It’s an obvious route, but so is the shoreline.”

Zach nodded. “Not only that, but it gives us a little bit of insight as to what they’re doing,” Zach said. “Interesting to see they collapsed the wall with explosives.

“Wait, how can you tell that?” Nora asked.

“Engineering skills, I’m guessing,” Selene said.

“And some previous knowledge,” Zach added. “Sometimes I read the codex when there’s nothing else to do.”

“Right. So, how can you tell?” Danny asked. He was curious as well.

“To be precise, they didn’t blow up the wall, they collapsed it,” Zach told them. “You can tell because of the way the wall fell. If they triggered them on the outside they would been forced away from the blast, which means the rubble would be pushed toward the inside of the wall. But in this case, the wall collapsed downward.”

“Does that mean a tunnel?” Danny asked.

“Bingo,” Zach nodded. “They undermined the wall and blew a breach into it from below.”

“That had to have taken a lot of work,” Selene said. “Even if they were just digging a crawlspace, how much dirt would they have to move?”

“A lot,” Zach said. “Plus there’s always the danger of the whole thing collapsing if you do it wrong. That’s a lot of hard work and determination, to pull off something like that.”

“Anyhow,” Danny cut in. “We might have our way into the city. Question is, can we exploit it?”

“Definitely going to take some doing,” Nora said.

“But I think this will help accelerate our timetable quite a bit,” Zach told him. “We still have to get a full plan in place for the alliance, but we can lay the groundwork for it in the meantime. You guys ready for some more action?”

Danny grinned back at him. “Oh come on. Do you even have to ask that?”

T
he fading daylight
cast a red pall over the water as two dozen river craft streaked north. Zach surveyed his group, a section of seven boats including his own. All of Ghost Battalion was present for the raid. Barghest and Redd Foxx rode along in their own boats, while Spectre formed the air assault team mounted on Raven Flight’s transport helicopters. Perseus Squadron circled above in their Gales, providing cover against possible enemy bombing raids.

“All section leads, report in,” he ordered. Anna was in the south at Hydra Headquarters in Indianapolis, leaving Liz in charge of Redd Foxx and himself as the overall commander of Ghost Battalion. He had stepped aside from his own company command to let Nora take his place. No need to be stirring too many pots at once, after all.

“Wolf Lead,” Nora called out.

“Fox Lead.”

“Black Lead.”

“Spirit Lead.”

“Raven 1.”

That was everyone. “Alright guys, we’ve gone over the plan of attack more than enough times,” Zach said. “Stick to it, and let’s dish out some hurt.”

Barghest’s boat section pulled away from their formation, preparing their weapons for battle. Even after the destruction of their torpedo stores, Ragnarok still had small patrol boats they could use to guard the shoreline along Milwaukee. Aerial reconnaissance indicated they held two sections that bordered Lake Michigan: the southernmost district of the city, and the harbor district that Fang Squad had raided.

Doubtless their enemy would do everything in their power to keep their naval flank secure, fully aware that Ghost Battalion was capable of performing amphibious assaults against defended beaches. They still lacked ideal landing craft, but they had performed well in the Eagle Creek assault despite that shortcoming. In that instance their enemy had no forces patrolling the reservoir, however, and disrupting the landings with attack boats could derail the entire operation.

But Ragnarok also had to protect their coastline from incursions, whether they were raids or full-scale invasions. Fang Squad had managed to sneak through a gap in the defenses and then infiltrate underwater the rest of the way, but their success meant Ragnarok would tighten their defenses. Doubtless the naval patrols had been stepped up, because even if they lacked torpedoes there were still other options available to deal with smaller craft. Heavy machine guns, autocannons, and their automatic grenade launchers could present a formidable obstacle to a small craft like the ones Ghost Battalion was riding in right now.

Their actual boats might not be quite up to par, due to them being a stopgap design, but even improvisations could be tough. Hydra’s Bull assault guns certainly served their purpose well, even though they were a heavily modified conversion of a lightly armored transport. And if they needed to defend their shore, Ragnarok would be out in force.

But Zach was counting on that, in fact.

Having to hunt them all down inside their home bases would take a considerable amount of time and effort, and would be extremely dangerous, to boot. But if they could draw them out onto the open water, Ghost Battalion could fully exploit their numerous advantages.

For one, their river craft had better performance, being designed and purpose-built for agility and speed. Ragnarok’s boats weren’t bricks, by any means, but they had essentially been built as small speedboats. Their performance suffered when laden down with extra ammunition and weaponry.

Relating to that, Ghost Battalion’s river craft also carried more weaponry, tailored for each crew’s personal tastes. They had a plethora of options to choose from: light and heavy machine guns, miniguns, autocannons and recoilless rifles. Four of their boats had been modified to carry 120mm mortars along with a considerable amount of ammunition, giving them a form of highly mobile fire support. That model would be making its combat debut today.

And finally, Ghost Battalion’s crews were far better trained and more experienced. He didn’t doubt that Ragnarok had skill, but his crews had been piloting their craft for months on end, taking them in and out of some of the hottest battle zones. Their piloting skills remained top-notch.

Karen called him over the radio. “We’re engaging the enemy patrol craft now. Looks like we have about ten of them, with more on the way.”

Zach nodded. “Hang tight. We’re coming.” He switched radio channels. “Raven Flight, Spirit Lead, Barghest’s section has engaged with the enemy. We’re moving to the second phase.”

Both Robbie and Neil acknowledged. Zach called over to Liz and Nora next.

“Fox Lead, hang tight for our signal. Wolf Lead, we’re headed in as planned. Let’s go.”

“Copy,” Nora said.

Zach took up one of the miniguns on the port side of the craft. He might be in command, but right now he was also part of the Black Wolf section. Everyone knew what they were doing and didn’t need any further orders. Now, it was time to fight.

S
elene’s river
craft howled over the waves, leading the pack toward its target. She manned the pair of autocannons in the bow turret of her craft, itching for the opportunity to use them. Woe betide anyone unfriendly who crossed her path.

Their plan of attack was simple. Barghest had already gone ahead and drawn the enemy’s attention, forcing them into a pitched battle on the open waters of the lake. Even with their disadvantages Ragnarok couldn’t refuse the challenge. If they stayed in port they would give Hydra free reign of the coastline, which meant they could strike anywhere. As such, they were forced to fight.

That played right into their hands, though. As Barghest Company worked to draw the enemy out the other units would converge. Black Wolf’s transports would sweep in from the northern flank, catching the enemy force in a pincer move.

Meanwhile, Redd Foxx would continue toward the shore, backed up by the floating mortar battery and helicopter gunships from Raven Flight. Spectre would join in as well, helping Redd Foxx force their way ashore into the port district. Perseus Flight covered the whole operation from enemy bomber attacks.

It might seem like a massive undertaking, but this operation was nothing more than a raid, Zach had informed them all. Even if they could take a beachhead, many doubted they could hold it for long. Ragnarok might have a number of disadvantages on the water, but they certainly didn’t on land.

But Ragnarok also didn’t know the extent of their doubts, and a dangerous threat like a large-scale naval landing on their flank had to be taken seriously. Ghost Battalion’s goal was to plant the seeds of doubt, convincing their enemy that an attack from Lake Michigan was almost a certainty. The more forces they committed to defending the shore, the better.

Meanwhile, Hydra would prepare their main attack against the land side of Milwaukee, right where the breach in the wall lay.

This might not be anything more than a raid, but they had to be convincing. Plus, as far as Selene was concerned, anything they could do to hurt their enemy was a plus in her book.

She could see the dark forms of boats zipping around in the fading light, with brilliant tracers flashing in between the black shapes. One lit up in a spectacular fireball that quickly faded into the twilight-lit waters.

Selene activated her radio. “Alpha Wolf, prepared for battle,” she said. “It’s time to hunt.”

D
anny almost had
to laugh at the unfortunate souls trying to fight them off.

He had to credit them. The Ragnarok crews fought hard, blasting away at the encroaching swarm of attack craft while their pilots tried to match the moves of their Ghost counterparts.

But it was completely hopeless for them. Black Wolf’s boats had more agility by design than any stopgap could ever hope to muster, and their veteran pilots could make them dance across the water. Coupled with their heavy armament, there was no alternative but a complete slaughter.

Danny lined up a shot and pulled the trigger. His minigun buzzed, spitting a sheet of flame and lead into the darkness. Two members of the enemy crew he was targeting fell over, ripped down by the torrent of lead. He swept his gun, blasting rounds into the remaining crew and the hull of the boat.

BAM!

His target suddenly exploded into a hail of flame and shrapnel, though Danny knew he hadn’t been the cause. Someone must have hit it with a recoilless rifle shell.

“Keep up the pressure,” Zach said over the radio. Danny saw his boat moving forward, laying into the enemy force with all the guns it could bring to bear.

He searched for another target. There. Even in the fading light he could see the distinctive shape of an automatic grenade launcher mounted on the bow. And while the boat it rode on was nothing to write home about, a few shots from the weapon itself could ruin a lot of days.

“Dakka dakka,” he said to himself, then opened fire.

He felt a slight sense of pity for whoever had been manning the weapon, because the force of the sheer number of bullets blasted them over the side of the boat and into the water. No danger of them drowning, though, because Danny was fairly certain you had to be in one piece to drown.

Even if he was in one piece, he wouldn’t want to fall in the water. Aside from the obvious danger of drowning, many part of the lake were teeming with predatory fish. Close to the shore they could avoid some of the larger predators, but the smaller swarms of razormouth fish always presented a danger. Fang Squad had gone through great pains to avoid the areas they lurked in when they performed their last dive.

Which was a worse way to go, he wondered, being ripped apart by bullets, or being ripped apart by a horde of monstrous fish?

Not that any of them would find out anytime soon. Ghost wasn’t going to sink, and the unfortunate Ragnarok troops would be dead before they hit the water.

Danny lined up another target. “Dakka dakka,” he muttered to himself again.

They had spent more than enough time getting pounded by Ragnarok. Finally having the upper hand again was a welcome change.

N
ora watched
the carnage unfolding around her. The outmatched Ragnarok navy continued to put up stiff resistance, but the outcome remained inevitable. Ghost Battalion would wipe them out in short order.

She got on the radio. “Karen, can you take it from here?” she asked.

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” came the reply. “Looks like there’s only about six or seven of them left, anyhow.”

“Thanks.” She switched radio channels to the Black Wolf frequency. “Company, this is Wolf Lead. Break off and head for shore as per the second part of the plan. I say again, break off and head for the shore.”

River craft started pulling away from the battle, with Nora’s own transport in the middle of them. She made a quick count of them all as they fell back into an organized formation. No casualties.

Karen would complete the first phase of the operation, the destruction of Ragnarok’s fleet on Lake Michigan. That allowed the rest of Ghost Battalion to complete their second objective, sowing as much chaos and confusion on shore as possible.

Redd Foxx had already made their move, skirting the battle on the lake to close in on the city. They would light it up with everything they had, along with making limited landings along the beaches. Once ashore, small raiding teams would target important areas near the coast and level them with explosives. Spectre Company would help, dropping into landing zones already cleared by Redd Foxx to provide extra reinforcements. Meanwhile, Raven’s helicopter gunships would roam the skies, killing anything that tried to interfere.

Nora turned her attention skyward as a large group of planes flew south. Perseus Flight was headed home, their job finished for now. Helicopters could operate at night, but fixed wing aircraft had trouble finding their targets in the dark. They moved too fast and lacked radar, making sorties not worth the effort.

That created perfect conditions for them. Everyone in the major alliances had night vision equipment, but they knew how to utilize theirs the best. Darkness created uncertainty, which lead to confusion, which their battalion could exploit. They stalked the shadows and made everyone else fear the night. That was their name, after all. Ghost.

“
W
e’ve landed
several teams on the southernmost beaches,” Liz reported. “Neil says Spectre is headed there to join them.”

“Good,” Zach replied. “Continue toward your objectives, but don’t take too many risks. If you have to pull out, do it. I’m pretty sure we already have their attention.”

“I’d say that’s a safe bet.”

Zach changed channels again. “Black Wolf, we’re going to clear the way for Barghest to land raiding teams in this area. Light up anything and everything that looks remotely threatening or important.”

Their group of boats sped along the shoreline, blazing away at anything that moved. Of course, there were plenty of unmoving targets as well, and his company laid into them with enthusiasm as well.

The mood was infectious, and Zach felt himself being swept up in it as well. No hesitation, no checking to make sure that each shot counted. Ghost Battalion was here to make a statement, and everyone could blast away to their hearts content. While precision certainly mattered in many cases, sometimes it was good to just let loose.

Zach blasted away at the shoreline with his gun, focusing on a group of trucks parked next to a row of warehouses. They made tempting targets, and their destruction would hurt Ragnarok’s logistics apparatus. It didn’t matter what kind of fancy gadgets and weapons you had on the front lines. If you couldn’t supply them, they were completely useless.

A pair of Raven Flight helicopters zoomed overhead, firing rockets and miniguns at a target further back in the district.

“Ghost Lead, this is Raven 2,” one of them called out to him. “You below us?”

“You just passed the row of warehouses along the docks in the northern district?” Zach asked.

“Yup, that was us.”