“OK fine, what's the problem with that?” Zach asked. “That might even help us. If they think we're coming after them then Ragnarok is probably going to be cautious.”
“Because when we launch the offensive that's never going to happen, Levi wants to cooperate with us,” Gina said with scowl. “I don't know why he chose to do it now and not when it would have been useful.”
“Does he want control like always?”
Anna shrugged. “Surprisingly, no. I'm not sure why.”
“It's because they know how strong we are,” Robbie said. “Levi's smart enough to know that we're stronger than Ronin, and that we have no incentive to follow his lead. He knows that he has to use us as partners, not subordinates.”
“I'm still not seeing the problem,” Zach said.
“I'm not either,” Nora added.
David continued. “The problem is that he's enthusiastic about our prospects of dealing a death blow to Ragnarok. Apparently the attacks on Fort Odin and Fort Baldr went so well that he thinks our combined forces can crush Ragnarok.”
“What, 'cause they won two battles after we blasted the place to ruins before they attacked? And we held off a battalion of reinforcements? Is he crazy?” Zach asked, his voice rising.
“Flushed with victory, I'd call it,” Gray said.
“I think crazy is a pretty accurate term, actually,” Selene said.
Danny nodded. “Even if we get every single troop we can muster, which means leaving ourselves with no guards at our most important strongholds, Ragnarok still outnumbers us by over three to one. And Ronin isn't going to be able to make up the difference.”
“I think he sees our shiny toys and thinks that will win the day for them. Armor, choppers, the like,” Liz said.
“There's no substitute for veteran infantry, and Ragnarok has plenty,” Nora said.
“Yeah, I know,” David said. “But Levi thinks it's possible. He has quite the ambition, let me tell you. Has grand battle plans drawn up and everything. He suggested some of them to us.”
“And how many people had strokes when he made those suggestions?' Zach asked. He could just imagine the fit of rage Cody would have flown into.
“None, actually. No one else in the alliance knows about this. We kept it within the original five. Plus Raven, obviously,” Yusuf said. “We'll tell them later, but we don't want word of this trickling back to Ragnarok.”
“I'm still not seeing the problem here,” Nora said.
“You told him to take a hike, right?” Zach said. No one answered. “Right?”
“Uh, that's one of the problems,” Anna said. “If we told him that we weren't planning on making an attack on Ragnarok, then they're going to want an explanation. And if they're not satisfied by the one we give them, then Ronin is going to start digging. If they figure it out there's a good chance that rumors might filter back to Ragnarok, and then we run the risk of having a knife shoved in our back.”
“So what did you do?” Nora asked.
Again, no one answered for a moment. Zach started to have a sinking feeling. He was really starting to get annoyed as well.
Once again, David provided the answer. “OK, when Levi contacted us we told him that we couldn't make any decision about it at the moment. We said that we needed approval from all of the original members to authorize an attack of that scale, and that you were on vacation in a place where there was no internet access. We needed the company commander. Not a replacement. The actual commander.”
“So he's still waiting for an answer?” Zach asked.
“Yeah, and we're going to have to give him one soon. They're going to find out that you're back on sooner or later.”
“Wait, so you told him that you needed approval from the five original members? Despite the fact that our charter says something completely different?” Nora asked incredulously.
“Hey, he has no clue how we run our alliance,” Danny said. “He believed it.”
“Um, our charter isn't exactly a secret. They're going to find out that we duped them sooner or later,” Nora said.
“Will that be before or after they find out we were using our forces to taken Indianapolis instead of going after Ragnarok?” Robbie asked. “Or are they just going to ignore the fact that we have our hands on a city?”
“OK, you have a point,” Nora admitted.
Zach tried to keep himself from groaning. They had put him in quite the quandary here. Just how were they going to dig themselves out of this mess?
“Can we contact Levi?” Zach asked.
“Yeah. Do you have a plan?” David asked.
Zach nodded. “I think so. I'm going to take the lead. Play along with me.”
Anna opened up her menu and pressed some buttons. “Levi, are you there?”
There was silence for a moment. Then Levi's face appeared on the monitor at the far side of the room.
“I am. Are all of you present?” he asked.
“Yeah, I'm back,” Zach said.
“Hope your trip was good,” Levi said sincerely.
“Thanks, it definitely was,” Zach said. Whatever else could be said about Levi, it was hard for Zach to hate him. He was a good person, at the very least. It made what he was about to do much harder. Zach felt slightly guilty.
“You've heard the details of my proposal?” Levi asked.
“I have,” Zach said.
“And are you interested in them?”
Zach made a great show of pausing and sighing. “Well, there's a bit of a problem,” he said. “I'm assuming you made your guess after we stopped selling ammunition in the Old Chicago markets?”
“Yes,” Levi responded. “I assumed that you were building up your stocks for an attack on Ragnarok.”
“Well, that assumption is incorrect, unfortunately. We have other reasons,” Zach said. “What I'm about to tell you is completely confidential. You cannot speak of it under any circumstances.”
He could feel the tension in the room. Several of the others tried to hold in involuntary gasps. You all think that I'm actually going to spill our secrets, he thought to himself.
“Understood,” Levi said, apparently oblivious to the others. Either that, or he had a really good poker face. Zach thought it was the later, because Levi definitely wasn't stupid.
“We shut down our ammunition production line for the time being and we're going to be using just our stockpile for the time being.” Zach said. “We had to switch production to mortar and artillery shells. Our aid to you completely depleted our stocks.”
“How long will it take you to restock?” Levi asked.
“It's going to be a while,” Zach admitted. “Our warehouses are completely bare.” That was true, at least. There were few shells in the bastion right now: they were all in the south, stockpiled for the massive battle that was about to unfold.
Yusuf spoke up from beside him. “I would say at least two to three weeks.”
Levi shifted uncomfortably. “Is there a possibility that you could commit other forces?”
Zach shook his head. “I'm sorry, but we're not going to commit our troops to a fight with Ragnarok without proper fire support. Most of our forces that have been fighting in the north need refitting. They've taken a beating and aren't in top fighting shape.”
“I see,” Levi said, sounding quite disappointed. “Then my offer to you is irrelevant at this point.”
“Yes, sorry about that,” Zach said. “Maybe in the future?”
“I'll keep that in mind. Thank you all for your time,” Levi said.
Zach breathed a sigh of relief after Levi had ended the video feed. “OK, let's never do that again, alright?”
The others were grinning at him.
“I don't know, that was pretty entertaining,” Gray said.
“Nice bluff you had going there,” Anna said. “It sounded like it was pretty convincing.”
“No thanks to any of you,” Zach said sarcastically. Yusuf cleared his throat. “OK, you're e
xempted,” Zach added. “The rest of you, though.”
“What, you were handling it just fine,” Gina said. “I didn't want to do anything to mess it up.”
Zach frowned. “I'm not sure what everyone is so proud of. I may have just cost us our last friend.”
“Maybe not,” Danny said.
“What do you mean by that?”
“There's cooler heads in Ronin's camp. Sam, for instance. Or Tafari.”
“They're not the type to blab either,” Liz said. “I think if we told them we were planning something, but didn't tell them what, that would go a long way toward minimizing the hurt this causes.”
“That still carries a risk that they might say something that compromises our plan,” Nora said.
“Yeah, but on the other hand we might make ourselves another enemy if we don't do anything,” Gina shrugged. “I'm fine with telling them. But what does everyone else think?”
“I'm for telling them,” Yusuf said.
“Me too,” Anna said. “From what little I've interacted with them they seem like decent types.”
“Yeah, they're tight lipped, and they know when not to push boundaries,” Robbie said. “I was really surprised. I was never asked anything about the choppers while we were based up there. We guarded them, and no one even came near the hanger.”
“Yeah, I'm for telling them as well,” David said. “Trust is a pretty valuable commodity in this world, and we don't want to throw it all away.”
Zach nodded. “Alright then. Let's see if we can get them on the line.” He opened up his menu and sent a message to both of them, telling them to contact him via radio.
He didn't have to wait long. Both Sam and Tafari responded quickly, and Zach put them up on the screen. He was glad that they had a boosted communications set in their headquarters so they could talk in real time. Otherwise, they would be stuck with a delay, and that would get annoying very fast.
“Sam, Tafari, you there?” he asked.
“I'm here,” Sam said.
“Here as well,” Tafari answered.
“Are you guys in a spot where you can talk privately?”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah, what's up?” Sam asked.
Zach paused for a moment. “I just got off the line with Levi.”
“And you told him that you guys are running out of shells, and won't be able to support us for quite a while,” Sam said. “Yeah, we heard about that too. Levi was quite disappointed.”
“But the whole thing is just a deception, right?” Tafari said. “I mean, it does sound plausible, but I hardly think you would put yourself in such a tough position on our behalf.”
“Uh, right,” Zach said. He should have known that they would see through his ruse.
“Why the deception?” Sam asked.
“Believe me, I wish I could tell you, but I can't. There's too much as stake here, and we can't risk a security breach. But I wanted to tell you guys about the deception anyhow. I really don't like pulling the wool over your eyes, but I don't have much of a choice here.”
“It must really be important, huh?” Tafari asked. “Well, you helped us out in our time of need. We can return the favor by not prying.”
Zach nodded in appreciation. “Thanks guys. I hope I can tell you about it soon, and I'd really like to work with you again.”
“The feeling is very mutual,” Sam replied. “Good luck with whatever you're up to.”
“Thanks again,” Zach said. He closed out of the message.
“Well I'd say that went better than expected,” Selene commented.
“We might be using them as a meatshield, but I still respect them a lot,” Zach said. “I'd really like to have them in Hydra, but they're too loyal for their own good. Too bad, really.”
“I still don't understand how Levi managed to get others to go along with him,” Gina said. “I mean, there's always going to be some people that are going to listen to you, but that many?”
Danny spoke up. “I think it's because people can look past how he rubs people the wrong way. Or maybe that's part of his appeal. Maybe they think that they have a leader who will do what needs to be done, and who isn't going to tiptoe around others to do it.”
“I think it also has a lot to do with their loyalty,” Zach said. “They probably thought that he was the best bet when we had several groups trying to form alliances to take on Ragnarok, and once they were in they stayed out of loyalty. Even though Ronin might not be the best option anymore.”
“Then what about Paladin?” Gray asked. “Why did they join them instead of us, for instance?”
“Maybe it's about credibility?” Liz suggested. “White Tiger, Dogs of War and Ascension have made quite the name for themselves in the north. That might attract other people to them that normally wouldn't be interested.”
Gray shook his head. “Where Black Wolf, Sacred Sword, Redd Foxx and Grizzly wouldn't. Uh, no offense Yusuf. And Robbie.”
“None taken,” Yusuf said with a smile. “We seem to attract a particular niche of player.”
“Hey, I'm just flattered that I got invited to this meeting,” Robbie said. “We are the newest company around here.”
“Still, we have a fortress. And armor. Stuff like that,” Gray said. “It's hard to believe.”
“Maybe people want to be with an underdog,” Anna said. “And unfortunately, we don't qualify as one.”
Zach nodded. “OK, enough about that. Let's get back to the important business. Are we ready?”
“Yes,” David said.
“Yes. We're ready,” Gina agreed.
Anna nodded. “Well, we've been training for quite some time. The rangers are ready to storm the beach, and we're ready to take the fight to the enemy after we do so. Hopefully it won't end up like last time.”
“We won,” Liz said.
“Half of us here died,” Gray said. He had been one of the first victims when the enemy boss had shown up.
Zach saw Nora frown. “Do we have any idea what kind of boss we might run into around the capture point? That's the one thing that could totally destroy our operation.”
“I would guess an armored vehicle of some sort, but that's just because it makes sense to me,” David said. “I really don't have a clue as to what they might be hiding.”
“We'll be fine,” Gina said. “We have plenty of trump cards to play. We have artillery. We have the assault guns. We have your rangers. We have some of the best regular infantry in the game, and we have naval and air support. We'll be ready for whatever they throw at us,” she said.
“We thought that last time,” Liz said. “Then the tank showed up.”
“We beat it,” Gina said.
“You didn't get killed by it,” Danny said.
“Hey, at least you got to shoot at it with an actual weapon that would hurt it,” Selene said. “We had to attack it, and you know how many shots we got before it wiped us out? One.”
“I killed it,” Zach offered.
“No you didn't,” Danny said with a scowl. “If you had then I wouldn't have died during the battle.”
“OK, I crippled it.”
“There, that's better.”
“Back on topic,” Anna said, redirecting them to the matter on hand as always. “We're ready. We could launch the attack right now, honestly, but we want to do it on a weekend, of course.”
Zach nodded. That would give them all plenty of time to partake in the fighting. “OK, we're ready. Do you guys believe we can win this? Answer honestly.”
“Yes,” David said.
“Yes,” Robbie said next.
Anna and Liz nodded. “Yes,” they both answered. Gray gave a thumbs up alongside them.
“I have full faith in you guys,” Yusuf said.
“Oh yeah, we can,” Gina said, her voice bursting with confidence.
Selene, Danny and Nora all nodded yes.
That was comforting. It was one thing for a commander to believe they could do it. It was ano
ther for the troops to believe. Zach had faith in them all. They would do it. They would conquer.
He spoke up again. “One last thing. Can we adapt if something goes wrong?”
“Remember who we are,” Gina said. “What's our motto?”
That was right. They were the Hydra Alliance.
Cut one head, and two more will appear. That was the power of the Hydra. Just when you thought you had killed it, the creature came back even more deadly than before.
That was their strength. That was their ethos.
Cut one head.
CHAPTER 19
Calm Before the Storm
“Can you believe it's all going to start tomorrow?” Miko said.
“It'll be good having you fighting alongside us again,” Danny told her. “Though I bet you had fun offing some people.”
“Yeah, it was fun. A little nerve-wracking at times, but still a lot of fun.”
“And I'm pretty sure the attack is going to be the topic of discussion,” Gavin said.
“Yeah, naturally.”
“I have a feeling that we're going to get asked a lot about what we're going to do afterward,” Nora said.
“What's there to do afterward? We control the city, and then we put everything in place to run it,” Javy said.
“Says the person who doesn't have to bother with the bureaucracy,” Nora said with a smile.
Danny thought about it for a moment. “What are we going to do once we take the entire city? The place is so huge.”
“Well, I've been toying around with some plans,” Nora said. “We might want to try to recruit more companies into the fold. Or, we could form some new ones.”
Danny shook his head. “I figured. Trying to shove Karen out the door, huh?”
“Hey, if she wants to form her own company again I say we let her,” Zach said.
“Then my platoon's under strength,” Danny said. He gave a slight smile. “What am I saying, she deserves it. She might be the best leader I have. No offense to you two,” he added, addressing Xavier and Jay.
“Hey, neither of us has lead a company,” Xavier said.
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