Fang: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 3) (14 page)

“
Honestly, I think we need to do what we can to take care of this problem right now,” Nora said. “If that means we have to use a full battalion to search the place, so be it. It's too dangerous to leave alone right now.”

Zach wondered about that. It was very true that Barghest Company was new, and that they weren't on the level of the rangers in Black Wolf, Redd Foxx or even Spectre. But he had heard the positive reports from both Karen and Selene, and they were encouraging.

He wondered whether Nora was overreacting to rawness of the new recruits. Zach thought that they would learn, just like the rest of them had. Black Wolf had been at an advantage in the beginning because he, Selene and Danny had been beta players, but they still had to learn a lot about this world by trial and error. That was how this world taught lessons the best. And anyhow, the others like Miko, Xavier and Nora herself had begun playing with no advantages. The beta players had taken the time to impart their knowledge on the new recruits back then, and that was what they needed to do now.

Maybe it was because she felt like they were operating on borrowed time. If so, then Zach could hardly blame her for that. One major delay, one slip-up and the whole thing could come crashing down around them. It was like playing a high-stakes game of poker; right now they had a strong hand, but if they misplayed it they stood to lose much.

“So, what do we do about it?” David said.

“
Well, we'll have to run everything by the council,” Zach said.

“
Three of the council members are here, and I'm pretty sure that Karen would welcome any reinforcements we can give her,” Anna said. “She has confidence in her company, but she's not arrogant. She already spoke to me about adding scout teams from Redd Foxx, in fact.”

Zach smiled. Once again, their choice was being validated. Karen was showing good initiative and confidence, going to her battalion commander first without consulting with him. It was what she should be doing, since after all, she was a company commander in her own right and was on equal footing with him. Karen had come a long way from the person who had refused to reform her original company because she saw it as her greatest failure.

“Given the size of this place, wouldn't it be better to have as many troops as possible searching it? Not just for enemies, mind you. There could be important tech or other things down there,” Yusuf said. “And if not, well, then it might be the perfect place to hide things that we don't want anyone else to know about.”

“
We'd have to pull troops off the line from other places,” Gina said. “Given how badly we've been stretched that might not be the best idea.”

Zach thought for a moment. “I think that Ghost Battalion can handle it. The passages may be narrow, but it looks like there's only a limited amount of space inside them. Bring too many troops along and we'll just get in each other's way.”

“That strips us of our recon force for the tunnels,” David said.

“
Then put another company on it. Marauder, for instance. We really don't need to have stealth capable troops to do scouting, it only makes it easier.”

“
And can keep a whole lot of trouble from coming down on their heads,” David pointed out.

“
What, do you think there's anything in this world that has the stones to kill everyone in Marauder?” Zach asked. “All we need to do is to point them down the tunnel and tell them to kill anything that gets in their way.”

David laughed. “OK, you have a point there. Just making sure that we can keep on schedule.”

“Who's going to be on guard duty up above, since we'll be stripping them of their extra troops?” Morgan asked.

Zach already had an answer. “We really only need to put forces in the tunnels, since that seems like the only place where they can attack from. If they've coming from the north and east, then they'll run straight into Dragon Battalion. If they come from the south, well, the guards can radio us and we can withdraw back to shore up the defense.”

“That's assuming our only threats are in this city,” Gina said. “What happens if Ragnarok launches a surprise attack?”

“
I'm assuming that they wouldn't do that without neutralizing Lerna Bastion first, and that's not going to be easy,” Zach said. “They could try, but they also have no way to get over the walls, and they'd be cut off from support.”

“
That's their main forces. What about commando raiders?” Gina replied.

That question sparked a flurry of discussion from around the table, which didn't bother Zach a bit. It was quite normal, in fact. The five original companies had worked long enough together to know that there was no malice or venom in their questions or objections. All of them wanted to make sure their plan succeeded, so they would point out any flaw, weakness or overlooked factor. That way, they would be sure that there were no mistakes that could have been prevented by a few more minutes of planning.

Such planning meant that they needed to examine any serious threat, no matter how remote the possibility of it actually happening. In this case he didn't think a commando raid from Ragnarok was likely, but they couldn't exactly discount the possibility either. They had the elite troops needed to pull it off, and they had been strangely quiet in recent weeks. Something was up.

Whether that something involved Hydra remained to be seen. Whatever the case, they still needed to guard against the possibility of an attack.

“We have enough elite troops in Knight Battalion. We can take the fight to the Valkyries if they show up,” Morgan was saying.

“
Good luck,” Nora said with a smile.

Zach agreed with her. “Well, if anyone can handle them in this alliance it would be your guys, but still, they're pretty tough.”

“We can handle tough,” David said. “And we're not planning on fighting even remotely fair if we can help it.”

“
OK, back to the abyss,” Anna said. “That's a job for Ghost Battalion. I'm not sure what we should do with Rogue Battalion. We'll have to determine that at the next meeting of the small council. I think we should also shift Raven Company to the north to provide support for Knight Battalion. Right now with the tunnel fighting they're not getting much usage.”

“
We can always use more reinforcements,” David said.

“
Are they going to be safe with Ragnarok's air force out and about?” Morgan asked. “Seems to me like that's a good way to lose our choppers.”

“
If they operate around the bastion that shouldn't be much of a problem,” David said. “They're a bit more hesitant now that we've fitted the place with more antiaircraft guns. Plus, we might have an idea on how to take care of them.”

“
Care to share it?” Gina asked.

David shook his head. “Sorry, but we're going to keep it under wraps by now. The only ones in the alliance that are aware of the plan are me and Morgan, and I'd like to keep it that way. I don't want any hint of this trickling back to Ragnarok.”

“Fair enough,” Zach said. Even though they were close allies, everyone in Hydra had their little secrets, and it was best not to pry.

“
OK, so assuming that Ragnarok doesn't rush us with everything we have, and we manage to clear out the abyss, what then?” Yusuf asked.

“
Business as usual,” Liz shrugged. “We keep taking stations and districts until we have the whole city.”

Gina spoke up. “Keep this quiet, but the council has been discussing taking only the districts on this side of the river for now. Once we regroup from that push we can take the rest of our city.”

“Our city,” Anna said with a half smile. “Are we calling it that right now?”

“
Might be a little presumptuous,” Connor agreed. “In the bad omen kind of way.”

“
Fine then. We can push to take
the
city so it becomes
our
city. Is that better?” Gina said with a smile and some heavy snark.

“
Much better yes,” Anna said.

“
First we have to take care of the pit first,” Nora said, “and I have a feeling that it's not going to be easy.”

That prospect didn't bother Zach even slightly. “When have we ever done things the easy way?”

CHAPTER 14

Ode to Joy?

Up until her life had taken an unexpected turn, Nora had always imagined that it would be spent making music. She had loved it as soon as she had been able to comprehend it at an early age, and loved it even more when she was finally able to pick up an instrument. Her love for music only grew the more she played her cello, and she had become more and more proficient.

Throughout high school and college she played, pouring the sheer joy of it all into becoming a better cellist. Receiving her acceptance letter into grad school was one of the proudest moments of her life.

But somewhere along the line, the joy of playing had faded somewhat. Nora still enjoyed it, but it didn't have the same spark that it once had. Her entire life had started to revolve around her cello, and the luster that it once had began to slowly fade away. Now it was a duty, a job that she needed to do. Every day she needed to practice, to accomplish the task that was set for her each day. The times she played for the sheer joy of it had become rarer and rarer.

She never hated it, of course. Music was her first love, after all, and nothing could take it completely away from her. But it had faded with time. Familiarity bred contempt, after all, and having her life revolve around music lessened its appeal somewhat.

It was during Nora's last year in grad school that she had started playing World at War. To her it had been a diversion from her normal life, and it had been a joy to experience that as well. It was as different from playing music as it could possibly be, but some of the same joy had found its way back to her. There was a sense of discovery and accomplishment inside the virtual world, and Nora had enjoyed it immensely.

When she had been offered a paid position to study the game she had jumped at the chance. It was good pay for doing something that she enjoyed, and it allowed her to spend time with the group that she had met inside the game world.

But sure enough, the same thing happened again. Slowly, surely, the initial allure of World at War started to fade away. Once again, Nora still enjoyed her time in the world, but like music it had become her life. Much of the joy was now gone.

So she was back to where she started. Once again music had become a joy for her, something that could take her out of the grind of her normal life.

Nora sat playing Bach on her cello; she had always liked his music. Her mind wandered a bit as she did so.

Was it always going to be this way? Was she always going to find something that she enjoyed, only for it to lose its magic and its shine? Was anything ever going to always make her happy, or was she doomed to wander, trying to find something that would satisfy her but never reaching that goal?

Nora snapped out of her thoughts and stopped playing when she heard her phone go off. She checked it. Selene had messaged her.

Still on for tonight
, it said.

Great, I'll be there
, she responded back.

She though for a moment, trying to remember where she had ended, then resumed playing. Maybe that wanderlust only applied to her hobbies or her job. She had no desire to move on from her friends, and probably never would. Some things just never grew old, and that was comforting to her.

But still, why had the virtual world lost some of its allure to her? Nothing had changed. If anything, the possibilities inside had only expanded. So why did she feel this way?

Nora mulled it over and continued to play on.

“
Well, that was very good,” Nora commented as she leaned back in her chair. She, Anna and Liz had met at Selene and Miko's apartment for dinner.

“
I'll second that,”Anna said.

“
Me too,” Liz added.

Miko smiled. “Thanks, everyone. I finally managed to get my grandmother to give me the family curry recipe.”

“She held out on you?” Anna asked.

“
Well, I had to prove to her that I was capable of cooking before she would teach me. She must have been afraid that I would burn down the house or something.”

“
Not exactly the greatest vote of confidence,” Selene said.

Miko laughed. “Yeah, tell me about it.”

“Don't feel bad, my parents are
still
afraid that I'm going to burn down the house every time I cook,” Anna said. “Despite the fact that I worked for a catering company during college.”

“
Isn't that the worst?” Selene asked. She took on an air of mock frustration. “Yes mom, I know what I'm doing. No, I don't need your help, I know what I'm doing. Seriously mom, I know what I'm doing.”

The others burst out laughing.

“Ah, parents,” Nora said with a smile. “Love mine dearly, but... Yeah.”

“
Yeah,” Liz agreed.

Miko and Selene stood up and started clearing plates off the table. The others began standing up to help.

“Thanks, but don't bother. Everything is getting chucked in the dishwasher,” Selene said.

“
Lucky,” Nora commented. That was one thing her apartment lacked, and while she could definitely afford a different one, she didn't want to move.

“
Does anyone want anything to drink?” Miko asked.

“
What is there?” Anna asked back.

“
We have stuff to mix drinks with,” Selene said. “We also have beer, but it's bock, so it might be too strong for some people's preferences.”

“
Is Miko mixing the drinks?” Nora asked.

“
Going to need a stomach pump for that,” Liz quipped.

“
Haha,” Miko replied. “We'll just bring the stuff out here and people can mix them how they want.”

Nora stood up. “Well, we're not going to make you lug everything out here by yourselves.”

A few trips to the kitchen later and they were all back at the table, glasses and ingredients in hand.

“
It's nice to have a night where we can just sit back and relax,” Anna said.

“
That really doesn't make it sound like our hobby is that much fun,” Selene said.

“
Oh, I think it is,” Anna said. “Tons of fun. But there's a lot to be done in the game world, and sometimes it's good to just break away from that.”

Nora elected to go simple with her drink and mixed herself a cola and rum.

“Well, maybe it has to do with leadership. We all have a bunch of duties in the alliance, and that takes a lot of time,” Liz said. “Though a lot of what we do for entertainment is basically management. Which, put that way, sounds like not much fun.”

“
A lot of things sound like not much fun when you break them down to their basic elements,” Selene said. “Look at how many people entertain themselves by looking at splotches of ink on a stack of paper.”

“
Hm?” Miko asked.

“
Reading,” Selene said.

“
OK, that description is stretching it a bit.”

“
Oh please, you know what I mean.”

“
Still, the entire thing is pretty fun,” Anna said. “I'm actually pretty surprised at the number of different people it's able to attract.”

“
I think that it's probably because there's something in it for everyone, or at least, a lot of different types,” Liz said. “Our alliance is a pretty good example. We have the up in your face types, like Marauder. We have the controlled, professional types like Sacred Sword, we have the people that like tinkering and building in Hephaestus, and we have people who like stealth in Redd Foxx. That's a lot of different ways to play, and I think people enjoy it.”

“
Yeah, and I think that's what makes it really fun,” Selene said. “There's not just one way of doing things. It isn't like there's just one set path that everyone has to follow in order to be good.”

“
And it's fun to branch out into different things once in a while,” Liz said.

“
You seem down about it,” Miko said.

Nora realized that she was talking to her. “Do I?”

“Maybe a little?” Anna said.

“
Is something bothering you about it?” Selene asked.

Nora shrugged. “Maybe a bit, yeah. It's just that I've been thinking lately that I haven't enjoyed playing quite as much as I used to.”

“So are you thinking of giving it up?” Liz asked her.

“
Oh, no way. I still have fun whenever I'm on. But, I don't know, it's kind of like it lost its shine, and I don't know why,” Nora said.

“
Maybe you're taking on too much responsibility right now,” Anna suggested. “When a lot gets laid on your shoulders, even the best things can lose a lot of what made them great in the first place.”

“
I'd second that thought, actually,” Selene said. “I think you're too focused on getting Barghest Company in shape, and that's taking away from your enjoyment of the game. You're focusing on getting them trained, and your don't have the time to appreciate the thrill of exploring or combat. At least that's my take.”

“
You have to do some things yourself, you know?” Miko said. “Whenever I get the chance I've been taking off into the north and stalking Ragnarok officers.”

“
Oh. So that's where you disappear to,” Selene commented. “I'm sure that they appreciate it very much.”

“
Well, I enjoy it,” Miko said, “and it keeps them on their toes. Hunting is just fun for me, and that's how I keep a lot of the enjoyment of the game alive. Plus, it makes them really, really nervous.”

“
I'll bet,” Liz agreed.

“
I'm surprised that they didn't send the Wraith after you,” Anna said.

“
Oh, I think they have. But I managed to get away,” Miko told them.

“
That's quite the accomplishment,” Nora said with a bit of admiration. Getting away from the player that was considered to be possibly the best sniper in the region was no mean feat.

“
Yeah, it wasn't easy, but you know what? It was thrilling. Fun. Tons of fun, in fact, and that's how I keep the game alive for myself,” Miko said.

“
So what your saying is that I need to find some way that helps me keep the game alive,” Nora said. “How, is the question.”

“
That's probably going to be something that you have to determine yourself,” Anna said. “What was it that drew you into the world in the first place?”

“
The camaraderie, maybe? Or the sense of adventure? Maybe a bit of both?” Nora mused.

“
I do think that's one thing that we're missing in the larger alliance,” Anna said. “In some ways we're achieving great things in the world, but in some other ways it seems to be turning into a somewhat soulless machine.”

“
Yeah, I'd agree that as well,” Liz said. “We're missing some of the early days of the alliance. Or going even further back, the times we were just fooling around all over the place with Sacred Sword.”

“
Remember that time we were scouting the bastion?” Anna asked.

“
Which one, the one where Zach got shot and Will and Gwen had to drag him to safety?” Selene asked.

“
Or was it the one where I got trapped on the roof and had to make a running and jumping retreat?” Liz asked. “Not sure that I ever want to do that again.”

“
Oh come on, those were good times back then and you know it,” Anna said.

“
Well, we had the bunker raid,” Selene said.

“
Yeah, the one where half of us got melted by chilus venom,” Miko grumbled. “Still can't believe that you managed to go so long without dying,” she said toward Nora.

“
Well, maybe it's just luck?” Nora suggested. “It's not like you die that often either.”

“
That's because I'm usually hiding somewhere,” Miko said.

“
Heh, maybe.”

“
Ah, the good old days,” Liz said.

“
Maybe that's why the original five gravitate toward one another,” Selene said. “We're used to each other, and that gives us some sort of bias.”

“
Like a trust factor, you mean?” Anna questioned her.

Selene nodded. “Yeah, exactly. I've been noticing that we seem to form up in our own little groups within the alliance. Maybe it's because we want to work with the people that we know best, but It's kind of weird all the same.”

“So you think that we have trust problems in the alliance?” Liz asked her.

“
No, I don't. We seem to be able to work fine together when we need to. There's no real problem there. It's just that we seem to always work together with the same people,” Selene replied.