Black Wolf

by Mitchell T. Jacobs

  “Good,” Zach said. He looked over at the screen for Sword 3. They were positioned in a building at the edge of town, firing at the platoon that Selene's team had lured out. The decision to launch the decoy attack had been a good one. At the very least, they had forced a considerable amount of enemy troops out of cover. It was going to be much easier to kill them out in the open field with only ditches, rocks and scattered trees for cover as opposed to having to blast them out of every single building.

  “Bear 1's group is nearing Sword 3 and 4's position,” their controller said. “About two minutes.”

  “Relay that information to them,” Nora told Sword 3 and 4's controllers. They did so.

  The minutes ticked by. Zach paid close attention to each squad's progress, though at this point there wasn't much to do. Everyone was performing admirably, and didn't need much direction.

  “Command, our engineers are clearing the last few mines. Fox 2, 6 and 4 are going to head for the center point,” Anna said.

  Liz looked down at the map. “They're about a block away from reaching the center of town. But the tower's still up.”

  Zach switched channels. “Selene, are you in position?”

  “Yup, we're on the roof of a three story,” came the reply.

  “Can you see the center tower?”

  “Yeah, we have a direct bead on it,” Selene said. “If it sees us we might be a little exposed up here.”

  “Redd Foxx is moving in on the center,” Zach told here. “They're going to try to get in position to blast the tower, but the way it's set up I don't think they can get close enough without exposing themselves. Can you draw their fire your way?”

  “Man you're demanding,” she said. “They have a twin heavy machine gun mount up there. You owe us big time if we die.”

  “I'll buy you all a beer if you die,” Zach said.

  “You're going to owe us a lot more than that,” Selene said.

  “Fine, I'll pay for all of your drinks the next time out if you die. Don't get yourselves killed on purpose,” Zach said.

  “That's more like it,” Selene said. Even through the radio connection, the satisfaction in her voice was palatable. “I'm going to have Miko snipe the gunner. Xavier and I are going to try to hit anyone else in the tower.”

  “Sounds good.”

  “Tell us when Redd Foxx starts to move.”

  Zach looked over at Liz. “How much longer till they're on the move?”

  Liz contacted Anna. “How much longer?”

  “Fox 6 just cleared all the mines. They're going through right now,” she replied.

  “Copy that. Wolf 1 is going to draw fire from the tower in the center. Tell them go get in position as fast as possible to take it out.”

  “Roger.”

  Liz looked over at him. “They can open up any time.”

  “Selene, Redd Foxx is headed your way. Open fire!”

  Zach looked over that the screen for Fox 6. The squad was pressing forward at a fast jog, mingled with parts of Fox 2. A half dozen assaults lead the way, their guns covering ahead and both flanks. Behind them was a heavy armed with a recoilless rifle and a sniper. They were heading for a large building that looked like a storage warehouse. A glance down at the map told him that they were getting close to the center of town. Once they entered the warehouse they would have a clear line of sight to the tower.

  “Selene, how are you holding up?” he asked.

  “Little busy over here!” she replied. He could hear the hammer of gunfire and the sound of shattering bricks in the background.

  “Withdraw if you need to,” Zach told here.

  “Great, but we're going to get shredded if we move. They-”

  Selene's line suddenly cut out. “Selene?” Zach said.

  “Selene's down,” Xavier said. “Javy's trying to heal her, but it's a critical injury, so it's going to be a while.”

  “Got it. You're in charge of Wolf 1 for now. Just hold tight until Redd Foxx gets into position. Do what you can to keep the tower distracted.”

  “OK,” Xavier replied, sounding unsure. Zach couldn't blame him. Xavier had never lead one of their teams before, and now he was going to have to learn how in the middle of the worst battle they had fought in. The gunfire in the background suddenly stopped. “Miko just sniped another gunner. That will buy us a little time, at least.”

  “Is Fox 6 in position yet?” Zach asked.

  “They're getting there,” Nora said. “They need to find a position where they can fire the recoilless rifle.”

  “OK. Wolf 1 is getting torn up. Selene is down,” Zach said.

  “Alright, I'll get them to hurry,” Liz said. “Anna, tell the attack force to step on it. The distraction force is being shot up pretty badly.”

  “Just give them a few more seconds,” she replied.

  “Command, we can break through to the center,” David's voice said. “The enemy is falling back, for some reason.”

  “Do it. We'll catch them in a pincer move,” Nora ordered. “Gina, support them.”

  Zach switched channels again. “Connor, how's the flank holding up?”

  “We're holding steady,” Connor said. “It's like shooting fish in a barrel out here.”

  “Fox 6 is in position,” Liz said, looking over at their screen.

  Zach turned toward the screen. Fox 6's heavy was loading the recoilless rifle in front of a warehouse door. Two of the assaults were positioned to either side of the door, ready to push it open. There were teams at other doors, armed with machines guns and assault rifles. Zach guessed that they would open the doors, then lay cover fire for the heavy.

  “Xavier, you hanging in there?” he asked.

  “Yeah, they got another gunner on the weapon. Miko is trying to get in position to take another shot, but they've got a bead on our position. Javy has Selene stabilized.”

  “Tell him thanks,” Zach said. “Just hold out for a couple more seconds. Redd Foxx is in position.”

  “OK, thanks.”

  Zach looked back at the screen. Everyone was tensed and ready, looking back at their squad leader. He signaled with a wave of his hand. Redd Foxx shoved three of the doors up and started firing. Then the two assaults threw the door open in front of the recoilless rifleman. The heavy aimed, then fired.

  “They got it. Good shot,” Xavier said.

  “The tower is down. Tower is down,” David said through the radio. The headquarters erupted in cheers.

  “Fox 2 and Fox 4 are going to storm the capture point. Fox 6 will provide cover for them,” Liz said.

  “Sacred Sword and Grizzly are going to link up with Redd Foxx. We're bringing Fox 3 with us,” David said.

  “Good. We have this won,” Nora said.

  Zach looked over at Fox 2's screen. They were preparing to move out into the center courtyard, littered by rusted vehicles and the burning remains of the guard tower. But then they hesitated. One of the assaults was pointing to something. Fox 2's squad leader looked around the doorway. Zach didn't get a good look, but it apparently was important. The squad leader whipped his head around and started signaling frantically to the heavy.

  “What's going on?” Zach asked Fox 2's controller.

  “There's a vehicle,” she replied. “It looks like it's functional, and it's moving.”

  The heavy shouldered his weapon and fired. Then he started to reload his weapon as quickly as possible.

  “Did they hit it?” Zach asked.

  “I'm not sure. They-”

  Zach's immediately got an answer. Fox 6's screen suddenly lit up as a series of holes appeared in the brick walls. Several troops were torn in half, and then Fox 6's screen went blank. The screen for Fox 2 and Fox 4 were blank as well. Their controllers were frantically trying to contact them.

  “Nick? Nick, are you there? Evan? Steve? Jesse? Cameron? Anyone?” Fox 4's controller said.

  “What the heck just happened?” Xavier asked. “They have some heavy weapon that we can't
see, and it looks like it did a number on the front of the building that Redd Foxx is in.”

  “Liz, I can't contact Nick, Gray or Jana,” Anna said. “Did something happen to them?”

  “We can't raise anyone from their squads,” Liz said.

  “I have someone,” Fox 2's controller said. “It's Kyler. There's three survivors.”

  “From Fox 2?” Liz asked.

  “From all three squads,” the controller replied.

  “Have them fall back to Fox 5's position and form up with them. They can replace the casualties that they suffered earlier,” Liz said. “Any idea what they were hit by?”

  “They think it's a tank.”

  “A tank?!” Liz exclaimed.

  “Are they sure?” Zach asked.

  “They didn't see it, but they heard Nick yelling that there was a tank, and he told Lance to open fire on it,” the controller said. “It fired on them once they tried to kill it.”

  “A tank wouldn't have done that, though. It would have taken them all out in one shot. There were multiple shots fired,” Zach said.

  His alert buzzed. Miko was on the other end of the line. He opened the channel so the command staff and the company commanders could hear as well. “We might have a problem,” she said.

  “No kidding. Do you see the tank?”

  “Yeah, I can see it from my angle. But it's not armed like any tank I've seen. It has four smaller cannons mounted in the front, and I think it has a machine gun mounted on top of the turret as well.”

  “It sounds like a self-propelled antiaircraft gun,” David said. “Though for us, it might as well be a tank. You said that it had four guns mounted in front?”

  “Yeah,” Miko said. “Four in the front where the regular cannon would be.”

  “Ah, it's probably firing 20mm shells,” David said. “That's not good. It can probably shoot through any of the cover we'll find around here.”

  “It did. Three squads got annihilated,” Liz said.

  “Ugh, not good,” Anna said. “We can't keep losing troops at this rate.”

  “Remember, we still have the recoilless rifles,” Nora said. “We're nowhere near finished right now.”

  “We only have high explosive ammo,” Anna said. “That's good enough against buildings, but it might not be enough against an armored vehicle.”

  “Regardless, we need to get a recoilless rifle team on one of the roofs,” David said. “They can take it out by hitting the top armor. I'll send Sword 7 up to get a good angle.”

  “Can you see any exposed crewmen?” Zach Liz asked Miko.

  “No, but I think I see the periscope they use for aiming,” Miko said.

  “Shoot it, it may blind them,” David said.

  “Got that.” a gunshot rang out. “Dang it, the turret started rotating right as I made my shot. It's... Get Up! Get off the roof! Move-”

  Miko's line suddenly cut out.

  “Oh crap. That thing just hosed the top floor of the building that Wolf 1 was on,” Gina said. “I think they're all dead after that.”

  “Is it aggroing to the greatest threat? David wondered. “It opened fire as soon as something that was dangerous to it attacked.”

  Sword 6's screen suddenly went blank. “They hit the tank, but it was at an angle and it deflected off,” their controller said. “They're all down.”

  “I guess that confirms it,” Zach said. He fiddled with the collar of his uniform nervously. “That thing took out almost a quarter of our attack force in five minutes. We can't attack it from long range, because one miss means that it kills the entire squad. What do we do now?”

  What to do, indeed. They were losing troops fast, and the heavies were having problems hitting a moving target. There were still quite a few enemy troops left in the town, and they could take full advantage of the chaos to push them back. If that happened, they were in trouble. They would probably lose all their recoilless rifles, and it would take at least a month to get enough ammunition and weapons to try this again. And that was if the other companies wanted to have another go at it. Zach had the sneaking suspicion that they would be far less cooperative if the attack ended with all of them getting slaughtered.

  His alert rang. Danny's team was on the line. “Do you have a second? We have an idea.”

  “OK,” Zach said. “Let's hear it.”

  “That thing attacks the biggest threat, right?” Danny said. “I'll fire on it and try to draw it down one of the streets.”

  “What good does that do?” Anna asked.

  “Ryan and I have anti-tank grenades,” Gavin said. “We'll hide in one of the buildings and wait for it to go by. Then we'll attack it from behind with the grenades.”

  “That's completely suicidal,” Liz said.

  “Pretty much anything we do is completely suicidal,” Nora said. “It's kind of our thing.”

  “Can you get in a position so it doesn't immediately blast you?” Zach asked.

  “Yeah, but we're going to need help. We need to have multiple teams to try to draw it down a street, and it's likely that we're going to get killed in the process.”

  “We're going to lose a lot of equipment if this doesn't work,” Nora said.

  “We're going to lose a lot of equipment if we have to retreat,” Liz said. “I think that's more likely to happen.”

  “I need at least two more heavies,” Danny said.

  “I'll see if I can get volunteers,” David said. “Anna, how many recoilless rifles do you have left?”

  “We have one. The tank killed our other two.”

  “Dang. I have volunteers from Sword 7 and Sword 5. They'll take up staggered positions along the main road and draw them up.”

  “We're going to take cover in the blue sided building on the main road,” Gavin said. “Draw it past, and we'll hit it from behind.”

  “Wait. Do you still have the ammo on the ATVs?” Zach asked.

  “Yeah, it's still there.”

  “Do any of you have an engineer that knows how to rig explosives?”

  “Paul does,” David said. “I'll contact Sword 3.”

  “Can he rig up an IED with the recoilless rifle ammo?” Zach asked.

  “Yeah, I think that's possible,” David said. “So, I'm guessing your plan is to rig up a bomb and lure the tank on top of it?”

  “That's plan B. Plan A is to have one of the heavies kill it. Plan C is to have Gavin and Ryan charge it with grenades,” Zach said.

  “What's Plan D?” Anna asked.

  “Plan D is to run for it,” Zach said.

  “Great,” Anna said. “Be warned, there's an infantry assault coming in behind the tank. It looks like about a platoon or so.”

  “That explains why the forces that were fighting us retreated,” David said. “I guess they regrouped to come in behind the tank.”

  “This isn't going to work if the tank has infantry support,” Gina said. “I can try to push some squads through the side streets, but it's going to take some time.”

  “You're probably going to lose more troops if you go through the side streets. Several of them have mines” David warned.

  “Redd Foxx is the only force in position to hold them off,” Nora said.

  Liz frowned. “You heard that, right Anna?”

  “Yeah, I did. I have Fox 1 and Fox 5 left. We'll try to hold them off as long as possible. Be advised that we have one heavy left. The rest are mostly assaults and soldiers.”

  That wasn't good. Redd Foxx was tailored for stealth and scouting. They could fight well when needed, but without heavy fire support they were at a serious disadvantage. They were all probably going to die to buy them time.

  Anna seemed to read his thoughts. “I can't guarantee how long we can hold out, but we'll make the pay for every inch of ground.”

  “Good luck.”

  “Thanks. Same to you,” Anna said, just before she exited the conversation.

  Liz shook her head. “This sucks, and no one actually dies. I can't
imagine what it'd be like having to do that in real life.”

  “Command, command, this is Bear 1. We're being flanked. I say again, we're being flanked,” Connor's voice suddenly cut in.

  “Hold on Bear 1. Which direction are you being flanked from?” Nora asked.

  “We're being hit from the south, and they're trying to get around to the west as well,” Connor said. “I think there's around a platoon coming after us.”

  “Just how many troops do they have?” Liz said.

  “Maybe more spawned when we went after the capture point?” Gina suggested.

  “Can you hold?” Nora asked. “We're stretched pretty thin, and we don't have reinforcements to send.”

  “Yeah, but we're not going to be able to do much more than that,” came the reply.

  “Can you spare anyone? We need one of your engineers,” Nora said.

  “Even if we could, going outside right now is suicide,” Connor said. “It's going to be all we can do to just hold them off.”

  “Alright, hold tight then,” Nora said.

  “Well, there goes that plan,” David said. “Paul's our best explosives expert.”

  Zach thought for a moment. “I can rig together an IED. It might not be the most effective bomb, but it should be able to do the job. But I'll need someone to take over command here. Liz, can you handle that?”

  “Yeah, but why not Nora?” Liz asked. “I mean, since she's your second.”

  “Because you seem to be good at controlling the battle and seeing what's going on,” Zach said.

  “Yeah, you're a better tactician than I am,” Nora agreed. “But you're going to need a team to go with you.”

  “I'll be fine alone. David, Gina, I'm going to take one of the ATVs and link up with you. Gavin, can you bring one of the ATVs you have to their position? I'll rig up the bomb on the back of one of them and transport it where it needs to go.”

  “On it,” Gavin said.

  “Alright. Take cover in one of the buildings after you're done in case we have to resort to Plan C.”

  “You're sure about this?” Nora asked.

  Zach checked his carbine and grenade launcher. “We really don't have many other choices. Keep everything running.”