They reached the landing zone without incident. Their transports were waiting there for them. Selene leaped aboard Neptune 1, followed by Ethan's squad. They shoved off, with Neptune 2 close behind.
“Company,” she heard Colin say. There were enemy troops moving along the shore.
“Don't bother firing unless their fire starts getting close,” Selene ordered. “No use in wasting ammo.”
Their craft speed off into the darkness toward home base. Now all they could do was to sit and wait. They would find out if this idea had merit very soon.
The results were good. Three days had passed and the gun was still not repaired. In the mean time they had taken out four more. The ones further inside the city would be far more difficult to take out, but at the very least they could reduce the number of targets they needed to take out later.
That was one of their tasks leading up to the start of the battle. The other, more important one was to train for the amphibious assault on the beach. They had enough boats to get all of the ranger company across the reservoir in one wave, thanks to the hard work of Hephaestus Company. The landing would happen in two stages. First, the beach would be hit with a short bombardment from mortars and some artillery. It was at the extreme edge of mortar range, but it would still help to clear out any defenses. After the bombardment lifted they would land. Black Wolf Company would spearhead the assault, since they were more suited to a frontal attack. Redd Foxx would follow behind them and help to secure the beach.
The first assault was going to be absolutely vital. They needed to be able to offload quickly, lest they be caught out in the open with no cover. They would need to train, and they would need to train hard.
Selene watched as the boat in front of her sped into the shore and ran aground. The troops aboard quickly jumped off the bow and advanced forward.
“So, what do you think about that?” She asked.
“How hard is it going to be to get the boat back into the water?” Zach asked from his spot toward the rear of the boat.
“That's something we'll have to find out.”
“Is the hull going to end up damaged? 'Cause we might end up destroying some of our craft that way.”
“We'll have to see, but they're pretty solid. I think we 'll be fine as long as we do it right,” Selene said.
“That's an awful lot of ifs,” Zach commented.
“Well, that's one idea. We just need to figure out which one to use.”
“Are there docks along the shore?” Danny asked.
“Yeah, we've been using them to infiltrate and for extract. The problem is that they're really exposed, and we'll be launching our attack during the day.”
“Could we wade in?” Zach asked. “We wouldn't have to risk the boats that way.”
“We have no idea how deep the bottom is,” Nora said.
“Could we find out?”
Selene frowned. “That's going to be really hard. “We'd have to do it in the middle of the night, and I still have the suspicion that we're probably going to get shot in the process.”
“Still, we need to know for sure,” Danny said.
Selene sighed. “Yeah, we do. Do you know if they sell diving equipment in Old Chicago?”
“Would you know how to use it even if they did?” Zach asked.
She shrugged. “It would help, at least.”
“Who's going to draw suicide scout duty?” Danny asked.
“Gosh, I wonder who,” Selene said sarcastically. “Unless you're volunteering.”
“I'd love to, but we just got done fighting Ragnarok when they had us outnumbered four to one, so I'm up for a less dangerous assignment now.”
“Oh please, you were complaining that they were cannon fodder,” Zach said.
“Are you volunteering?” Nora asked.
“I'm not a scout. Are you?”
She shrugged. “If Selene wants me to come along, then I'd be happy to.”
“Sorry, but that's not going to happen. She's the strategist for this whole operation, and she should use the time to plan,” Selene said.
“Sure, side with her,” Danny said.
Selene thought for a moment, then pushed him over the side of the boat. “How deep is it?” she asked.
Danny flailed around a bit as he tried to get his bearings, then started to tread water. “Wow you're mean.” He swam up and pulled himself back into the boat.
“You have to admit that was pretty hilarious,” Zach said.
Danny grinned. “Yeah, I can admit that, but next time you can take the swim.”
Selene smiled. It had been far too long since they all had been working together. “OK, I'll take a team out tonight, and we'll test the depth close to the beaches.”
“Do you have a specific team planned?” Danny asked.
“No, I was going to ask for volunteers.”
“Mind if I volunteer? I'd like to see this place for myself.”
“Sure.”
“Actually, I'd like to come along as well,” Zach said. “It's been forever since we ran in the same fireteam.”
“Well, since you guys are going I think I should come along, at least as Miko's replacement,” Nora said.
“Speaking of which, what has she been doing?” Selene asked. “She's been missing a lot.”
“Not a clue,” Danny said.
“She's been present,” Zach told her. “And she's been busy. She's still in the north, headhunting.”
Selene nodded. “Ah. What have we created? She went from a lost nobody to one of the best assassins in the game. I'm guessing she's gone after Ragnarok?”
“Them and a few others,” Zach said. “There were a few companies that were collaborating with them. Collecting resources for them and such. Ragnarok thought we wouldn't notice because they were so far north. They stopped pretty quickly, once she started offing their commanders.”
“Dude, we're pure evil,” Danny laughed.
“You need to add a bit more of a cackle to that, then,” Selene said. “That's just how this world works.”
“Yeah. No heroes to be found here. Everyone is either a psychopath or a sociopath. Or a combination of the two,” Danny said. “And we're definitely not immune to it either.”
“We're not that bad,” Zach said.
“This is coming from the person who refers to Ronin as a meatshield?”
“Well, they are a meatshield, and that's really not our fault,” Selene said. “I mean, if they would just cooperate then they wouldn't be in that position now, would they? But no, they need to have control over everything.”
“Plus, we've given them support. They wouldn't have the two forts without us. And we got a high level schematic for them as well,” Zach pointed out.
“Which they can't build because they lack the manufacturing capability,” Nora said. “And even if they had it, they don't have an airfield.”
“Not our problem,” Zach shrugged.
“Not our problem at all,” Selene agreed. This really was a cold, cruel world, and sometimes they were little better than armed gangs. But maybe it would change. Then again, it was liberating to escape from the rules of society.
“Do you think they can hold off Ragnarok?” Nora asked. “I know they can delay them for a while, but for how long?”
“It depends how much they pour into the forts,” Zach said. “I have a feeling that they want to hold them at all costs.”
That would help Hydra a lot, Selene thought to herself. It could also end up bleeding Ronin's alliance white. Fort Odin and Fort Baldr were strong, but neither of them had the power that Lerna Bastion possessed. And Ragnarok had been able to threaten it at the beginning of the war, before the Valkyries were fully formed, before they had grown even larger, before they gained experience.
Ronin had been able to fight and resist because Ragnarok was always battling on several fronts. At first it was against the Legion Pact, and one they had been subdued Hydra had attacked them. But the two front war was over n
ow. Ronin was the only one facing them, left to take the full fury of their retaliation. Levi and the rest of them might have severely overplayed their hand. It was very likely that they were going to get crushed. Selene just hoped they would delay Ragnarok long enough for Hydra to get their business done.
“How long can they really hold out?” Selene asked.
Zach frowned. “Well, I'm not sure. Our support had one unintended side effect. Taking Fort Odin and Fort Baldr gave them a lot of credibility around Old Chicago. There's talks that several companies are interested in joining their alliance.”
“How large?”
He shrugged. “I haven't heard numbers. I've just heard a few names. One of them is Death's Head. The other one is The Kings.”
“Them?” Nora said. “Any respect I had for Ronin and the rest of them goes out the window if they let them join up.”
Selene nodded. Both of them weren't on the friendliest terms with Hydra. Death's Head Company had several confrontations with Sacred Sword, all of them ending in violence. They were highwaymen, thieves, and had tried to steal from Sacred Sword's members. They usually ended up with bullets in their heads for their trouble.
The Kings were another matter entirely, and Black Wolf had a personal vendetta against them, if they could even be bothered to care. The Kings had preyed on new players north of Old Chicago, shaking them down for money and killing those that wouldn't pay up. Javy had been a member of the company, in fact, until he got sick of their methods and tried to leave. They had tried to kill him as well, but they had tried to do it in Black Wolf territory. There had been a fight, and Black Wolf had killed every single one of them.
There hadn't been any problems since, though she heard that Sacred Sword had run into trouble with them. She had laughed when she heard that Morgan had shot their leader several times when he started making threats. No one liked The Kings. Even their name annoyed her.
“Somehow, I can't see them letting those types into their alliance,” Danny said.
“You'll do a lot when you need more troops,” Zach said.
“Yeah, but there are some lines you don't cross even then. At least, I hope they have some standards.”
Selene watched as the crews shoved the grounded boat back into the water. “Well, it's their problem right now. And right now, this is going to be our problem.”
The shore was dark, illuminated by a few sparse lights. That was good, at least. They had night vision goggles, though their images were crude and they had cost a fortune. They would need them, though. There was no way to work other than turning on lights, and that would attract bullets like moths to a lamp.
Neptune 1 motored in close to the shore, its engines on the lowest setting possible to try to muffle any noise. Neptune 2 stood off shore a little further with every gun at the ready. Selene was ready to man her own station, a pair of .50 caliber machine guns on the stern of the craft. If they were discovered then quick thinking and firepower were the only things that were going to get them out of this.
Ahead of her Danny and Zach were putting poles into the water. They had been marked with tape set at every half foot, and they would use them to test where the bottom was. Nora was in the bow, looking through a scope. He job was to determine the distance from shore. From what Selene could tell they were about thirty to fifty yards away.
How long it had been since they had been on a mission together in the same squad? She didn't count the battledome challenge, since that was out of necessity. It had been a while. Months , in fact. Ever since Black Wolf Company had grown their roles had taken them farther and farther apart, and Selene missed some of the closeness of the early days. But that was the price of what they were doing. The larger they grew, the less central they became. Selene had gone from being the leader of a fireteam to the commander of a platoon. Danny had gone through that change as well. Nora was busy doing work with the alliance council, and Zach was their commander, with all the responsibilities that entailed.
She shook her head. From their humble beginnings with four players she never thought they would get this big. Now they were part of one of the most powerful alliances in the game, with hundreds of members. And sadly, she didn't know many of them all that well.
Being in such a large alliance was definitely fun, but one of the tradeoffs was the fact that there were too many people to get to know. It was kind of like social media; you could have hundreds, thousands of 'friends', but how many of them did you actually know? How many did you actually associate with on a daily, weekly, monthly or even yearly basis?
Maybe other people didn't have a problem with it, but to Selene it took away some of the magic of this world. There was a lot to enjoy here, but it didn't mean much if you couldn't do it with your friends, your true companions. Fighting alongside acquaintances just didn't have the same feeling.
It wasn't just other companies; Selene was loathe to admit it, but she didn't know a lot of her platoon all that well. She knew the ones who had been Black Wolf originals best. She knew the ones who had come in the second wave fairly well, but she was far more fuzzy on the ones that came afterward. Selene knew about them, but she didn't really know them. She didn't know their likes, their dislikes, their strengths and weaknesses, their tendencies. She was reliant on her squad leaders for that.
Maybe that was something to look into afterward. At any rate, they had a job to do right now.
The river craft slowed as it reached the shore and Gavin's squad jumped off, landing in waist deep water. They pushed forward as quickly as possible. Further up the shore Ethan's squad had already made landfall and was making its way up the beach. Logan's squad was just clearing the water. Three more craft were roaring toward the shore, carrying Bravo Platoon.
Their search had been a success. The reservoir was shallow where they had tested. Troops could wade in from about twenty feet off shore without drowning, and their transports could get within ten feet of the shore without the fear of running aground.
They knew their plan was practical. Now they needed to be able to pull it off. They were going in last; her and Danny, Zach, Nora and Miko. Once they launched the attack they would divide up so they wouldn't lose all their officers if the boat got hit, but right now they needed to practice disembarking.
Bravo Platoon landed ahead of them without incident. It was their turn. Their transport sped in toward the shore, then cut the throttle about thirty yards out. The craft continued forward.
“Go!” Selene signaled. They went over the side of the boat. Selene leaped off without a hitch, but in front of her Danny tripped and landed face down in the water. Selene and Miko hurriedly pulled him back up. That was something she had noticed. Classes that were laden down such as heavies were having a difficult time with this.
They would need a lot more practice.
CHAPTER 17
Stockpile
The numbers were staggering. The sheer amount on troops and materiel she had to sort through was immense. Nora, Yusuf, Paige and Liz had been tasked with taking inventory and making sure everyone was equipped and prepared for the attack on Indianapolis. She knew that they were well-stocked. What she wasn't prepared for was the sheer scale of it all.
“Alright, let's start with armored vehicles,” Yusuf said.
Nora nodded and looked through her menu. She had organized list of everything, courtesy of the logistics skill she had taken. “Alright, we have twelve M11 Bull assault guns. Ursa Major, Kodiak, St. Michael, Gabriel, Orcrist, Glamdring, Reaver, Fury, Ironheart, Storm and Thunderclap,” she said, listing off the various names they had been given.
“Do we have enough Rams for the entire armored company?” Liz asked.
“Yeah, we focused on building them up first,” Paige said. “I wouldn't want to go into battle driving Mules.”
“You might have to,” Liz commented.
Hephaestus and Jackal were going to stay behind during the attack, defending Hydra's important bases and Lerna Bastion itself. Nora didn't th
ink that they were going to be in any danger, but all it took was one mistake to ruin everything.
Paige laughed. “If we have to, then you'd better not fail. Because we'll probably end up being nomadic.”
Nora cycled through her tables. “We have seventeen M15 Rams. That's more than enough to carry the entire armored company.”
“What about Mules?”
“We have about forty of them, though we're probably not going to be using a lot of them,” Nora said. “Bravehart borrowed six of them and converted them into mortar carriers. They're going to head into the city with the armored company to provide indirect fire support.”
Yusuf cycled through his own menu. “Speaking of them, between Griffon and Bravehart they have four artillery pieces, plus a bunch of mortars.”
Paige cycled through her own menu. “I took stock of our ammunition supplies. We're going to stop selling ammunition on the market over the next week so we have enough for ourselves.”
“That's going to make the price skyrocket,” Nora observed. Yusuf had estimated that Hydra sent fifty thousand rounds of ammunition into the Old Chicago markets per day. Cutting that supply would cause shortages, especially for the smaller companies who had come to rely on the cheap Hydra bullets.
“Yeah, well, we need them,” Paige shrugged. “If we keep up production like we have been we'll have around five hundred thousand rounds at our southern stockpile, plus the ammo needed for the recoilless rifles, artillery and the like.
“How are we holding up on fusion batteries?” Nora asked.
“We have enough to last us for a week without having to buy anymore,” Yusuf said. “They're piling up fast, however.”
“How much money do we have? Do we have enough to recharge our stocks?”
“I think we have enough to recharge about half our stock,” Yusuf said. “Even without selling ammo we still have the overdrive profits.”
Howl: A World at War Novel Page 19
