Fang: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 3) (8 page)

“We're too large to operate effectively,” Zach continued. “It hasn't cost us yet, but give it enough time and it's going to become a major, major problem.”

“
So what's your solution?” David asked.

“
My solution is this. We have four battalions. I think that our military command should be a small council made up of the battalion commanders, plus some others that are elected by the rest of the companies. Maybe three of those.”

“
Elected how?” Lee of Storm Hawk brought up.

“
If everyone in the alliance gets a vote than that really slants it toward the founding companies,” Robbie brought up. “And I'm sure some of the newer members are leery of that. I am, at least.”

Zach nodded. “Right, which I why I don't think we should use that option. I think that this council should continue to exist, but it only should be called for extremely important things. And I also think that the representatives should be elected by this council as well. That means that all the companies are on equal footing.”

“But that means the more powerful companies might end up marginalized,” Gina said.

“
And doesn't it slant the council toward the first five companies?” Bryce questioned. “I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not questioning their strategic ability. But three of the four battalion commanders are from Redd Foxx, Sacred Sword and Grizzly.”

“
Is that really so bad? I mean, we were part of the founders,” Morgan spoke up.

“
So we're second class then?” Cody replied sourly.

“
And what does that make us?” Neil spoke up. “Are we just cannon fodder for you guys?”

“
That's not even close to being true,” Gina argued back.

“
Well, it's sure sounding like it,” Neil shot back.

There was a buzz in the background from the other companies. Zach exchanged a look with Nora. Discord in the ranks right now could be fatal to the alliance. This had to end right now.

He spoke up loudly. “Alright, alright. I think Bryce's point is a fair one, and I think we should keep that in mind when we're voting for the three representatives. The job should go to the best people, but I think they should come from some of the newer companies.”

“
Isn't that kind of contradictory?” Morgan asked.

“
Not necessarily,” Zach said. “It's not like many of the companies are newly formed. Most of us have records and reputations to go on. We can use those credentials to determine who gets elected.”

“
I think that there should be some restrictions,” Nora spoke up. “Black Wolf Company will withdraw its name from consideration for one of the slots.”

Many of the other companies started murmuring among themselves. Zach kept a stoic expression on his face, but inside he was smiling. That move had made quite the impression, at least. He was most concerned with keeping the alliance functioning, and if they had to sacrifice some of their status, so be it.

“Hephaestus Company will also withdraw its name from consideration,” Yusuf said over the buzz. “We'll act as advisors if wanted, but actual military strategy should be left up to the fighting companies.”

“
If I can make a suggestion?” Karen spoke up. The room quieted.

“
What do you have in mind?” Nora asked.

“
I think we should make sure that there's representatives from every arm of our forces on the small council,” she said. “There's already one from the armored forces, one from the rangers and two from the infantry. I also think we should make sure that we have one from the artillery, and possibly one from the air units as well.”

“
That gives Raven an automatic seat,” David mused.

“
Still, it's a good idea, I'll give you that,” Cody said.

Karen shrugged. “Well, we don't necessarily have to give our air forces an automatic seat, since they're small enough. It's just a concept.”

“I'm fine with falling under the representation of the ranger battalion, since that's who we usually work with,” Robbie said.

Zach had to keep himself from breathing a sigh of relief. Thing were starting to work out better than he had hoped. Most of the others seemed to be on board with the plan. Now was the time to push it through, striking while the iron was hot.

“Do we have any major objections to the plan?” Zach asked. No one spoke up.

“
Do we want to vote on representatives tonight?” Liz asked in return.

“
The faster we do it the faster we can get the council up and running,” Nora pointed out.

Zach nodded in agreement. “Right. If I can make a suggestion, I'd like to nominate three people for the slots. First is Bryce, representing for the artillery arm. Second is Shayna. Jackal is still relatively new to the alliance, but they've proven themselves very well, and I think they'll do a good job representing the interests of the smaller companies. Third-”

“The third one should really be you,” Aaron spoke up.

“
We already said that we were withdrawing Black Wolf from consideration,” Zach protested.

“
As much as I agree with your thoughts that we need to represent the smaller companies, you're one of the three founders of the alliance. You should be on the council,” Aaron replied.

Zach frowned. This was definitely not what he had thought when he made the concession. He had planned on taking over tactical operations for the rangers while Anna handled the strategic side of things. But this threw a wrench into those plans.

“Is everyone else in agreement about this?” he asked.

“
I'm inclined to agree, though I'm an original, so I'm not sure how much my opinion should count,” David said.

“
I think it's a fair point,” Cody said.

“
I'll concede that too,” Neil added in.

Once by one the other commanders spoke in favor of the decision. Zach's mind started racing, trying to think of a way out of the problem.

He didn't want to waste time in strategic planning meetings, especially because he already knew they had plenty of capable minds on the council. Zach wanted to be at the front, in the thick of the fighting. He wanted to push his troops toward their objectives, because leadership was going to be essential in the coming days. The alliance had little margin for error.

Something in his mind clicked. “OK then, that changes my thought process a bit.” He turned to his left. “My third nomination is Karen.”

“What!” Karen exclaimed despite herself.

“
Hear me out on this,” Zach continued. “She's a member of Black Wolf Company, which gives us a representative on the council. She also came to us from an independent company, so she had experience with the small guys. And she's the company commander of one of the newest companies in the alliance.”

“
Which makes her perfect for all levels of the alliance,” Nora finished.

“
Well, you've sold me,” Cody said with a grin.

Everyone else seemed to come to an agreement. Karen  sat silent, looking somewhat mortified at the suggestion.

Zach leaned in next to her. “You're qualified for the job, and you'll do fine at it,” he told her quietly.

“
You really don't want me to have an easy time, do you?” Karen asked. “I still have to get my company together, remember?”

“
I know, and I'm not going to leave you hanging,” he reassured her.

The voting went off without incident. All three of Zach's nominations were elected unanimously.

The company commanders started to file out of the council room. Nora pulled him aside as the room was clearing out.

“Do you think that was really a smart decision, putting Karen on the council?” she asked. “There's a lot on her plate right now.”

“
Right,” Zach said. “I think she should be on the council, for the reasons I stated, But I'm also going to give her some help.”

“
What kind of help?”

“
First off, I'm going to take over Alpha Platoon,” Zach said. “I'll slide Selene out and temporarily assign her to Barghest Company. She can act as the second in command.”

“
That should help,” Nora agreed.

Zach continued. “I think she should have more help as well. Would you be willing to slide over to Barghest Company for a while to help her?”

Nora frowned and thought for a moment. “I'll have to ask Anna, since I'm still technically acting as her adjunct in the ranger battalion.”

“
Shouldn't be much of a problem. When was the last time you had to do anything with that?” he asked.

Nora shrugged. “It's been a while. Liz has taken over those duties again.”

Zach nodded. “Alright then. It shouldn't be for long. Just until we can get the company organized and on its feet.”

“
Are you guys going to be able to manage without us?” Nora asked.

“
Selene has a veteran platoon that will function with or without her. As for our supply situation? You've done a good job, because it's pretty much idiot proof.”

“
Does Selene know about this?”

Zach hesitated for a moment. “No, because I came up with the idea on the spot.”

Nora gave him a pitying grin. “Well, let me know when you tell her. Preferably before, so I can put as many walls and miles between myself and you two as possible.”

“
It's not going to be that bad,” Zach said. At least, he hoped not.

CHAPTER 8

First Blood

Nora had been pleasantly surprised when she transferred into Barghest Company. Karen had done a good job with the initial organization. Now all that was left for her to do was to make the whole system more efficient.

The influx of players had been large; over seventy players had petitioned to join either Black Wolf or Redd Foxx. That put Barghest Company on par with some of the largest in the alliance. In fact, they were larger than Black Wolf Company at this point.

Karen had organized her troops in a different manner than other companies. Black Wolf Company had eight troops in a squad. In contrast, Barghest Company had twelve troops per squad, organized into three fireteams of four troops apiece. Two of the fireteams would be lead by a pair of corporals, and one would be lead by a sergeant, who was also in charge of the squad.

Her logic was sound as well, and Nora had been impressed when it was explained to her. Karen had reasoned that, since she was dealing with new troops, her role was to provide training to them in order to bring them up to standard. She would pick out the most promising leaders to serve as sergeants, while others who might need more work would be assigned as corporals. Her hope was that they would gain experience controlling small units, which would help them with their leadership skills if they were put in charge of a larger unit.

Nora thought her idea was an inspired one. It would help to create a larger officer pool, which would speed the process of expanding the companies. Troops couldn't do much without good leadership, after all.

Barghest Company was further organized into three platoons, designated by a color. Red Platoon would be lead by Selene, and Karen would lead Blue Platoon. Nora had command of Yellow Platoon, which had an understrength squad of eight members. Her group would act as a reserve, and would be brought up to strength as more recruits trickled in. Eventually, she and Selene would be replaced as capable lieutenants were identified.

Until that happened, Nora's job was to provide both organizational and combat support for Karen. Her biggest challenge was going to be getting the logistical side of things ready to operate on its own. She wasn't necessarily worried about the fighting aspect of things; they would pick them up with time and experience. But logistics was a critical aspect of running a company that many people ignored to their detriment, even given its critical role in large scale operations. Bullets and munitions didn't appear out of thin air, and vehicles were little more than lumps of metal without fusion batteries.

Most functioning companies knew the basics by now. Keeping track of the number of weapons, bullets and the like was only natural after all. But that only told half the story. Nora had designed Black Wolf's supply system to work differently. She didn't just keep track of numbers; she kept track of where those numbers were going, where they were coming from and how fast they were moving. By tracking statistics she had managed to create a fairly accurate estimate of Black Wolf's consumption of supplies.

With that knowledge came several advantages. For one, they could look at the figures to see where inefficiency and wastage were happening. Another advantage was that they could anticipate when they were going to run out of ammunition, which gave them time to alert Hephaestus Company. And finally, it let them analyze what methods of fighting were most cost effective. Hydra was relatively wealthy, but their cash stocks weren't infinite. Anything that could save them credits was worthwhile.

Nora hoped that she would be able to train at least one other person in her methods, and she wanted to have several if possible. It was a lot for one person to handle, especially for a large company.

She had two potential candidates; Jon, a recruit that had been a player for several months but had never joined a company until now, and Amy, a new player to the game. Both of them seem to possess the necessary patience and good sense to be trusted with the logistics of scores of other players.

They were meeting in a conference room inside Barghest Company's brand new HQ, right across the street from Black Wolf Headquarters. Karen was definitely thankful for that, and both Nora and Selene were pleased with the location as well. It kept them in the loop while they performed their duties with Barghest Company.

Both of them were busy. Selene had ceded control of Alpha Wolf Platoon to Zach, but she was still keeping track of their organization, their missions and the like. Nora was still in charge of logistics for Black Wolf, though by now the system was semi-automated. There were several others covering for her as well, but she still wanted to keep an eye on things.

But that was secondary to their duties right now. It was their job to teach the new influx and shape them into an effective fighting force. Not only did it help the alliance, but it was good for the players as well. Nora had found that the most fun in World at War was had when players were part of a big battle and knew it. A single soldier wasn't capable of winning a battle on their own, but knowing you were a part of a great effort made everything you did more satisfying.

“Alright, here's some data from the past month,” Nora said. She sent Jon and Amy some statistics from Black Wolf's database through her wrist menu.

“
That's... a lot of numbers,” Jon said blankly as he opened it up.

Nora laughed despite herself. “No kidding. That's what a company goes through when they're fighting several major battles in a short time period.”

“How did you manage to get this much ammunition?” Amy asked curiously.

“
Hephaestus Forge,” Nora told her. “They can manufacture it
very
quickly.”

“
So why are you so focused on preempting everything, if they can go so fast?” Jon asked.

“
Because they're good, but they're not miracle workers,” Nora said. “Besides, if half the alliance runs out of ammunition and orders it at the same time they're not going to be able to keep up with demand.”

Amy looked back at the data. “So... There was a massive drop in stocks a couple of weeks ago. Should that just be taken as an outlier?”

“For normal usage, yes,” Nora said.

“
I'm guessing that was when you guys launched the attack on the city,” Jon said. “So even though it's an outlier, it can also be used to predict the usage during a major offensive.”

Nora smiled. “There you go. You guys are picking up on this really fast.”

“I'm a little more nervous about going into the tunnels,” Amy said. “From what I've heard they're pretty creepy.”

“
Yeah, I can't say my experience with the underground has been pleasant either,” Jon added.

“
It'll be fine,” Nora said. “Once you get used to it, the underground isn't that bad. You'll find that out soon enough.”

Karen had assembled most of Barghest Company and was going to lead them into the tunnels this evening. They were going to push west, seeking to find out where that end of the station went.

They weren't going to be alone, either. Zach had detached Karen's old squad from Bravo Wolf Platoon for the evening and was sending them along with Barghest Company. They would provide an experienced backbone for the mostly raw players that made up the scout force.

How things had changed in such a short period of time, Nora though to herself. Bravo 3 had been the least experienced members of Black Wolf, and now they were considered veterans. It wasn't even a matter of quality. The squad had proven themselves to be capable, even equaling some of the more experienced squads. Danny had said more than once that he thought Bravo 3 could match any other squad in Black Wolf.

But still, it unsettled her a bit that they were going to be so reliant on new recruits during such a critical time.

“Maybe this wasn't such a good idea,” Karen said as she looked back over the long column of troops making their way through the subway tunnel.”

“
It's fine,” Nora reassured her. “Everyone needs more experience, and sending in small squads of raw troops is suicide.”

“
I'm really hoping that we don't get ambushed by enemy soldiers,” Karen replied. “That just seems like it could be a disaster.”

“
Well, I don't think that's likely. Because your scouting decision was a good one.”

Karen had assigned a squad to act as a vanguard force, scouting ahead of the main group. They would identify threats and discover any obstacles or traps. If they ran into trouble then they could call on the rest of the company behind them for support.

Her best decision had been to use the new recruits for the scout squad. Selene had been put in command of the unit, but the rest of them were all drawn from the new members. Karen had picked the best of them, to be sure, but Nora had been pleased by her initiative. She had wondered whether the temptation to rely on Bravo 3 would be too much. Instead, the Black Wolf members were acting as their last ditch reserve force, with orders only to become involved if the situation became dire.

Nora's silent alert flashed up on her HUD. So did Karen's apparently, since she activated her radio.

“Black Lead,” she said, using her new callsign.

“
Black Lead, this is Alpha Wolf,” Selene answered, still using her old callsign to prevent any confusion. “We've come across a small side tunnel. What do you want us to do with it?”

“
Hold position where you are,” Karen told her, “and wait for us to join you. We don't want you getting cut off if something comes out of there when you pass it.”

“
Copy that, Black Lead.”

Karen turned and looked at her. “Should we sweep the side tunnel, or should we just ignore it for now?”

“Well, we ignored the ones we passed because we only had a single squad,” Nora informed her. “Since we have a full company we can probably spare a squad or two to sweep them out.”

“
Do you want to be in charge of that? I'd do it myself, but I need to be in the main tunnel directing traffic.”

Nora nodded. “If you want, though I'm not going to put myself in charge. I'll advise, but leadership should be up to the sergeant. I'll take one squad. That should be more than enough to deal with it. And if not, well, we'll know better next time, won't we?”

Selene's squad was waiting for them about a thousand feet up the tunnel, past a slight bend.

“
I didn't want to bypass this without orders,” Selene said, indicating the side passage with her gun.

Karen nodded. “Right. Move your squad back up to the vanguard position. Keep a thousand yards ahead of us, and follow the scouting protocols.”

“What about the side tunnel?” Selene asked.

“
Already being taken care of,” Karen said. She activated her radio. “Allen, see my marker on your map? Bring your squad to it.”

“
Are you sure that's a good idea, sending a rookie squad in by themselves? We have no clue what's back there,” Selene warned.

“
Nora's going to be in charge of them,” Karen told her.

“
Ah, that's a good idea. Thought still, they might need some backup, just in case.”

“
Just what do you think is down here?” Karen asked. “The side passage isn't big enough for a giant chilus, and the squad has a flamethrower with them. They should be fine.”

Nora agreed with her. “Really, I think our biggest problem is going to be traps and the like. We haven't run into anything down here yet.”

“Yet,” Selene smiled grimly. “Famous last words.”

“
You could try to not kill morale,” Nora said.

Selene snorted with laughter. “Oh come on, we know that there's going to be something dangerous down here, and that we're going to run into it eventually. That's why we're playing. It would be a pretty boring game if this place was completely deserted.”

“OK, fair point. Still, I think that one squad should be fine. That's thirteen guns when you count me in as well, so it should be plenty of firepower. Besides, they need to know how unforgiving this game can be.”

“
That's a fair point too,” Selene shrugged. “OK, time for us to head out. Good luck on this end.”

“
Good luck on your end as well,” Nora said in return.

Allen's squad had moved up and was being briefed by Karen. Nora took the opportunity to check her weapons and gear again. Once again she had traded her burst fire gun for a carbine. She also had added an incendiary grenade to her stock. The grenades were obscenely expensive and were in very short supply, so Nora would only use in the event of an emergency.

“Ready?” she asked Allen after Karen had finished the briefing.

“
I'm ready,” Allen replied, though he sounded nervous. He was an assault class, carrying a submachine gun.

“
What's your patrol file going to be?” Nora asked him. “Remember, we're going to have to go one fireteam at a time, since the halls are smaller.”

“
What are your orders?” Allen asked him.