Zach turned his head. “Nora! Are they patched in yet?”
“Yeah, we just need to do a few more comms tests and we should be all set,” she replied. “It'll be about five minutes.”
“Give it around twenty minutes for Sacred Sword to get in position,” Liz said.
“I'm going to have Selene's team open fire in around fifteen minutes,” Zach said. “Be ready to go on my signal.”
“I'll stay in communication with you,” Liz said. “I don't have a video screen, so you're going to have to either describe what you're seeing, or refer to one of the squad leaders.”
“Got it. Redd Foxx, out.”
“Time for a little inspirational speech, commander?” David grinned.
Zach groaned. “Do I really have to? What more do I have to say than go kill everything in that town that resists?”
“Oh come on, you're basically obligated to do it,” Gina said. “It's one of those big battle scenes in the movies, and you just want to let it happen without making a grand speech?”
“Oh fine,” Zach said. He brought up his menu and selected everyone in the four companies present. This would patch him into their radios. The command post went silent as everyone got their alerts.
Zach cleared his throat again. “Hello everyone, this is Zach of Black Wolf, the commander of this whole operation. Thank you for joining us. Today we're going to attempt to do something that no one else has tried, not ever Ragnarok. We're going to try to take an enemy held settlement. Not an outpost, not a small base, but a full sized town. We have no idea what to expect. At the same time, we're well equipped, well skilled, and we have this operation well planned. And greatest of all, we're unified.”
He paused for a moment. “We have something else that no other force has. We're unified, and we're unified by choice. Ragnarok may have numbers, but many of them were forced to join. Others have willing unity, but they will only fly one banner. We're different. We're four companies, four ways of thinking and fighting, four different banners, but one cause, and it's a cause we all chose freely. Everyone has their part to play, and I have the utmost faith that everyone will see it through. And when the battle ends, our banners will be flying over the town, just as the way we fought. Together. Let's do this!”
A loud cheer erupted from around the headquarters. Liz looked at her menu. “Anna sent a message. It says, 'nice speech.'”
“Yeah, I agree with that,” David said. “Maybe a bit melodramatic and cliché, but it was pretty inspiring regardless.”
Zach grimaced, with a bit of a grin as well. “I make up a speech on the spot, and I end up doing a power of friendship one. Gah.”
“Be fair, half of us are suckers for speeches like that, even if they're corny,” David said. He activated his radio. “Alright, my guys. Let's form up and move.”
“Sacred Sword is moving out,” Liz said to Anna.
“Make sure to signal once you're in position,” Zach said to David.
Nora rejoined them as Sacred Sword headed down the road. “Well, here goes nothing. I really hope this works.”
“You're not the one they're going to want to lynch if everything goes wrong,” Zach said.
“I know this might be soon, but how are we going to defend the town once we capture it?” Gina asked. “Especially since we're going to destroy all the defenses, and there's no wall.”
“Well, we can add turrets and auto-defenses,” Liz said. “Plus, we can buy sections of prefab walls to put up.”
“Those are really, really expensive,” Nora said. “We can afford them eventually, but there's no guarantee that we'll be able to get them up in time. Plus, how the heck are we going to get them here? It'll take a week to transport one side of the town by ATV.”
“Your base is still in Old Chicago, right?” Zach asked Gina.
“Yeah. Why?”
“The town can probably be used as a stronghold. Would your company want it? We'd share it as as a staging area, of course, but you could hold it and garrison it. And it would save you a lot of money you could put into the defense.”
“I'd love that idea, but I think you need to run it by Anna and David first,” Gina said. “I mean, that's giving up an awful lot to us. We might not end up doing any fighting, and the two companies that do the fighting won't get anything.”
Zach shrugged. “Just an idea. We'll figure it out after the battle.”
The mulled over the last minute details, preparing the controllers for the upcoming battle and making all of the final checks.
“Sacred Sword will be in position in three minutes,” one of the controllers said.
It was time. Zach activated his radio. “Selene. Have Miko open fire.”
CHAPTER 14
Battlefield
“Miko is targeting the guys in the tower at the southeast corner,” Selene said. “She's killed two of them. From what I can tell, they're sending reinforcements our way.”
“Can you tell how many?” Zach asked.
“Negative. We're up on a small hill, but vision is still a bit limited. Looks like a few squads, at least.”
Zach grunted. “Well, good enough.” He switched his channel to David. “We're ready to go. Launch the attack.”
“Roger that,” David replied.
“Sacred Sword is launching their attack. Be ready to go in around five minutes,” Liz said to Anna.
“Copy that. We're ready to go at any time,” came the response.
Zach turned his attention the row of video screens. Each squad had its own call sign, based on what company they were in, and a number. Sacred Sword's call sign was Sword, Redd Foxx was Fox, Grizzly was Bear, and Black Wolf was Wolf. The designations would hopefully make communication easier.
He looked at Sword 1's screen. They were advancing toward the main street into the town. Zach could see an engineer, two soldiers and a heavy toting a machine gun in front of Sword 1's squad leader. A glance at the other screens told him all he need to know. Sword 2 was following close behind to provide support. Sword 3 was heading in the direction of the northeast tower, with a sniper and a heavy in tow. From what he could gather, Zach assumed the plan was to suppress the tower with the sniper and then have the heavy blow it up. They were covered by Sword 4. Sword 5 was headed for the northwest tower, and looked like they were going to try the same thing as Sword 3. They didn't have a covering squad, which made sense since Redd Foxx would attack from that direction. Sword 6 and Sword 7 were in reserve, probably to be sent wherever they broke through first.
“Sword Lead, what's your status?” Zach asked.
“No resistance so far,” came the reply. “If our luck holds, we'll take care of those towers without much problem.”
“Good.” Zach switched radio channels. “Wolf 1, how are you holding up?”
“Not too shabby, but it might be a problem in a few minutes,” Selene replied. “We have around a platoon of thirty or so coming after us. We can hold them off for now, but if there's any more then we're going to have to run for it.”
“Shouldn't be a problem. Sacred Sword is launching their attack as we speak.”
A burst of gunfire rang out from one of the screens. Sword 1 had finally run into resistance, just inside the perimeter of the town. Zach was impressed by how quickly they moved. The heavy immediately dropped prone and started to lay suppressive fire in the direction of the shots. The two soldiers paired up and took cover against one of the buildings. More troops moved up. Zach saw an assault, another soldier and a heavy armed with a recoilless rifle go past the squad leader. Then the squad leader moved up himself.
“Sword 1 is engaging hostiles in the buildings just off the main road,” the controller said, a female soldier wearing Sacred Sword's gear and a patrol cap.
Nora leaned over and made the necessary adjustments to the map.
“Sword 1, do you have an estimate of how many enemies you're facing?” The controller listened for a moment. “OK, that's better than nothing. They're estimating
between one and three squads is engaging them. They can't tell,” she said to Nora.
“Have them use the recoilless rifle if they need to take out an enemy strong point,” Zach said.
She nodded. “Jason? Command says to have Tim use the recoilless rifle on strong points if you need to.”
Zach saw Tim look around, probably in response to a verbal order from his squad leader. He nodded and shouldered the recoilless rifle, then started to move toward the middle of the street. The rest of his squad began to lay down a barrage of fire at the building ahead. Zach saw what he was trying to do; he had to use the weapon where there was plenty of clearance, otherwise he risked hurting himself with the back blast, and unfortunately, the only place to do that was the middle of the street.
A rush of smoke and flame leaped out of the weapon's rear as he fired. A second later the front of the building blew up in a shower of shattered bricks and concrete. From what he could tell through the video feed the enemy fire had died down a bit. There was also a gaping hole in the first floor. A half dozen other troops suddenly rushed by Sword 1's leader. A glance at the adjacent screen confirmed that Sword 2 was storming the building.
Sword 2 had two assaults, three soldiers, a heavy, a medic and whatever their squad leader was. Zach watched the two assaults go in, followed by a soldier and then the squad leader. It looked like they were in an old apartment building. Zach watched with fascination as Sword 2 cleared every room on the 1st story of the building without any resistance. They were fast, he noted. Sacred Sword's troops wasted very little time and effort, and there was no hesitation when storming a room. As soon as they were in place, they went for it.
“Fox Leader is asking for permission to begin the attack,” Liz said.
“Permission granted. The code is Alpha Green,” Zach said. They had devised a coloring system to designate certain orders and their urgency. Alpha was a signal for a general advance, Hotel signaled for them to hold, and Whiskey was to withdraw. There was also a signal for a general retreat, though he hoped they wouldn't have to use it. There were also colors attached to each order. Green meant that all was going according to plan. Yellow meant that there was considerable resistance, and that plans might need to be altered. Red meant that the situation was dire.
Selene signaled him. “This is Wolf 1. Requesting permission to withdraw. This is getting pretty hot over here.”
“Alright, code is Whiskey Green. Do you need us to send an extraction team?”
“Don't bother.”
“OK. Once you're disengaged, then head for the gas station and get on the roof to observe.”
“Copy that.”
“Sword 3 has eliminated their target tower,” one of the controllers announced.
“Sword 2 has a man down,” another controller said. “The medic is patching her up, but she's going to be out of the fight for now. Sword 2 is also reporting that they can see enemy reinforcements moving north from the roof of the building they just took.”
“Sword 6 and 7 are moving up to support the center attack,” Liz said. “Their plan is to smash right through the center.”
Zach turned to the controllers for Sword 3 and 4. “Have Sword 3 and Sword 4 anchor their flank. Wolf 1 is withdrawing, so they may have more enemy troops coming back their way. Have them be defensive for now.”
“Roger,” they replied.
Zach returned to the map table. “Well, so far so good. If things work out, Sacred Sword's push up the middle will force the enemy right back into Redd Foxx. How is their attack coming?”
“It's making steady progress. Fox 5 lost three troops to a sniper. They had to resort to blasting him out with a recoilless rifle,” Liz said. “They're certainly coming in handy.”
They were indeed, but equally as vital, in Zach's mind, had been the insistence on training the operators how to use them. Anyone who had invested the necessary skill points could use the weapon, but it took a discerning eye and a quick mind to judge just when and how to use it. They were now being used as he had envisioned, to take care of pockets of stubborn resistance that would cost considerable amounts of time or troops to suppress otherwise.
“I'm concerned about the east flank,” Zach said. “They're going to get hard once all the troops going after Selene's squad come back.”
“Well, we're available if needed,” Gina offered from the other side of the table.
Zach nodded. “Send three squads to help them hold on to the flank. How many recoilless rifles do Sword 3 and 4 have?”
“They have one apiece,” Nora said.
“OK, that should be enough for them. We'll keep Wolf 2 in reserve for now.”
Gina opened up a channel on her menu. “Connor! I'm sending you coordinates. Take Bear 1, Bear 4 and Bear 5 and head for them, as fast as possible. You're going to be helping Sacred Sword hold the east flank.”
Zach looked over at the Sacred Sword controllers. “Alert Sword 3 and Sword 4 that reinforcements are coming their way and will be there in around ten minutes. Make sure they hold the flank at all costs. They can retreat a bit if needed, but the flank needs to be held.”
“Roger.”
Zach switch channels. “David! I'm sending three squads from Grizzly to help shore up the east flank. Do you need more reinforcements for your push down the center?”
“Not at the moment,” David said. “We're stalled trying to force the enemy out of the buildings in front of us, but we should be able to handle it ourselves.”
Nora shifted the position of the Sacred Sword markers on the map. “They're making steady progress. Redd Foxx should be able to link up with them soon.”
Liz looked at the position of the markers on the map, then looked over at one of the screens. “Anna, what's Fox 3 doing?” she asked.
“They're trying to advance up one of the side streets,” Anna replied.
“Have them wheel around to the northeast into the building with a red brick facing.”
Zach glanced at the screen Liz had just finished watching. It was for Sword 6, engaged in a firefight with an enemy unit holed up further down the street. The garrison was putting up heavy resistance; it would be next to impossible to push down the street in the face of their firepower. Judging by how many bullets were flying down the street, the enemy had at least three machine guns. But there was a three story red brick building just off to the right...
He looked back down at the map. The red brick building was right next to Fox 3's position. If the squad got onto the second and third floors, they could put the enemy in a crossfire from above. Liz had seen that possibility and had made an excellent tactical deduction on the fly.
“Make sure that Sword 6 knows what you're doing,” Liz said to the controller.
Zach activated his radio again. “David? Fox 3 is going to take the red brick building in front of Sword 6. Make sure they don't shoot each other by mistake.”
“Got that,” David said.
“Fox 6 found a minefield in one of the back alleys,” their controller said. “Their engineer is trying to sweep them as quickly as possible. They want to try to use it to get to the center of town.”
They had discovered that each settlement had capture points when they had scouted it more thoroughly before the attack. Taking and holding the capture points for a certain amount of time would give control of a section of the settlement. Larger cities could have up to a dozen capture points, while a small town like this one would have only one in the center.
The plan was to take the central capture point to end the battled as quickly as possible. However, they would not push for it at all costs. There would be no point in taking the capture point if they left too many enemy troops in position to counterattack.
Zach's alert went off. “We're on the roof of the gas station,” Selene said. “Miko's vision is a bit limited from up here. I think we can get a better view on the roof of one of the other buildings in town.”
“Go ahead,” Zach told her. “Try to give cover fire to
the other teams. We're going to try to break through the center soon.”
“Roger that.”
Zach looked over at Gina. “Ready for some action?”
She smiled. “As interesting it is to watch, I really do need some action.”
“Head down with the rest of Grizzly. Act as a reserve to either the flank or the main thrust. I'll let Anna and David know you're coming.” Zach switched channels. “Danny, Grizzly's heading into battle. Go with them.”
“Got it,” Danny replied.
“If Sacred Sword can get us a clear lane to the capture point, we can head there and dig in for the counterattack. And if Redd Foxx can grab it before we get there, then we can reinforce them.”
“Remember there's a tower,” Nora said. “You'll need to have that taken out.”
“That's what your guys are for, right?” Gina said.
“Make sure that you don't get them killed. Especially Danny. He has a habit of biting it right before getting to an objective,” Nora said.
“Hey, that happened once,” Danny said as he walked in the tent, recoilless rifle slung over his shoulder. “Do you want Gavin and Ryan to take the ATVs with them?”
“Yeah. Leave them at the gas station so people can grab more ammo if they need it.”
“See you on the other side. I'd say I was jealous, but I don't think I could go through a major battle without killing something.”
“Have fun doing it,” Nora said.
“Later,” Gina said. She and Danny walked out of the command post.
Zach opened a three way channel. “David, Anna, the rest of Grizzly is coming down the main road. They'll try to support Sacred Sword's push toward the center of town. Anna, if your squads can get to the center of town then Grizzly will link up with you to help hold the capture point.”
“Got it,” Anna replied. “I have two engineers working on demining the alley. They should be through in around ten minutes.”
“I think Sword 6 just linked up with Fox 3,” David said. “That gives us a continuous front on two sides of the town. The east flank is holding steady.”
Black Wolf Page 14
