Commando City: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 7)

by Mitchell T. Jacobs

  Right now Miko was standing in the middle of an open field south of Indianapolis, her waypoint beacon active. The transport would home in on it and hopefully drop them right on top of it.

  Danny had volunteered his platoon for the duty, mostly because it gave them more opportunities to practice their jumps. Every one they got in before they went into combat increase the chance that they'd perform smoothly when it counted. Practice made perfect, after all, and that's what he was shooting for.

  “Thirty seconds out.”

  Danny activated the open channel to the rest of Bravo Wolf. “Everyone, prepare to jump.”

  There was a buzz of activity in the hold as his troops fixed their static lines and prepared to jump. In front of them, the plane's rear ramp started to deploy.

  Danny looked back down at the map and tried to zoom in. It looked like they were right on top of the beacon, but that was probably because of the resolution. As soon as he zone in on their immediate area the beacon disappeared to the south. It would come on screen soon enough, though.

  “Ten seconds.”

  He looked up at the light board in the back of the hold, waiting for it to go green. Now came the moment of truth. Would their transport signal them at the right time, or would they overshoot the target? That might not mean much right now, but the fate of Alpha Wolf Platoon during the last battle illustrated the dangers of failure. And if they were landing in a zone cut off from immediate support, then they couldn't afford to take unnecessary casualties.

  And then the light went green. Bravo Wolf began stepping out of the rear of the Colossus in a series of practiced motions. Danny followed. He felt the air whipping around him at the end of the ramp, just before he stepped into the sky and fell. A second later his static line jerked his parachute opened, and he was drifting toward the ground.

  Danny looked down at his wrist menu as he descended, trying to find Miko's beacon. But at this resolution, it was nowhere to be found. He zoomed out a bit, trying to adjust and figure out where they were.

  And then he realized they had dropped slightly off course to the west. It wasn't a major deviation, but it was a deviation nonetheless, and that could be critical when dropping into an urban area. It could mean the difference between dropping into an open space, like they were planning, and getting caught up on buildings just a few hundred yards away from the drop zone.

  There was still some skepticism about the parachute drop, particularly when it came to getting them all on target. It wouldn't have been as big of a deal in the wilderness, but within the city being off by even fifty yards could mean getting separated for hours. There was also the risk of falling into obstructions. While that was a danger anywhere they went, it became particularly apparent in a crowded urban environment.

  The ground approached, and Danny braced for impact. They were coming down much closer to the edge of the forest than he would have liked, highlighting just how off course they were. Danny suddenly realized that he was drifting far more than usual. His canopy rippled as a cross breeze carried him further south.

  Once glance down at this wrist menu confirmed it. Their jump might have been slightly off course, but the wind was making it much, much worse. That might be fine when they were landing in a wide open area, but it could be devastating when landing in the middle of a built-up city. They'd either have to jump in clear weather, or they needed to come up with some way to compensate for the deviation.

  But first, he had to focus on landing without killing himself. Those were the worst deaths, Danny thought at he watched the ground draw near. He could accept being gunned down, being sniped, even having an artillery shell dropped on his head from out of the blue. But having to retrain all his skills because he broke his neck landing the wrong way? Those type of fatalities stung the most, because there was always some sense they could have been avoided.

  Danny felt his feet touch the earth and rolled to kill his momentum. He landed safely, but then the wind started to pick up. Before he knew what was happening his canopy suddenly opened up on the ground, dragging him along as he struggled to free himself. One of the chords had become tangled around his shoulder, and wouldn't come free.

  As he struggled, Danny saw a thick tree loom ahead at the edge of the forest, directly in his path.

  “Oh no,” he said to himself, still struggling to break free. If he didn't, he was probably going to run smack into the trunk and break his neck, given the speed he was being pulled along at.

  But then he felt something grasp at one of his legs. A flash of silver passed before his eyes, and within a second the chord came undone. Danny sprawled along the ground and came to a stop, bruised, battered but otherwise unharmed.

  “Well, aren't you glad I decided to walk to the drop zone after laying down the waypoint marker,” Miko said.

  “Yeah, that would have really sucked,” he said, looking at the tree. “The wind certainly isn't helping us.”

  “No, but neither is the drop point,” she said. “You were fine up until you got close, and then you mistimed the jump.”

  “We went as soon as the light went green.”

  “Then your pilot must have misjudged the signal. I guess that's something we have to work on.”

  “Yeah, that's-”

  And then he saw another one of his paratrooper go crashing into the forest, followed by several others. A few seconds later the radio was full of chatter.

  “Um, guys, can we get some help here?” Javy asked. “A bunch of us are tangled in the trees.”

  “Cut your way out, Javy,” Miko replied with a smirk.

  “Yeah, that's great and all, except I'm hanging upside down and I just dropped my knife.”

  Danny looked at her. “Guess we have some work to do.”

  6

  Tinker

  “We need better weaponry.”

  Yusuf looked up at him from his work on a partially disassembled jet engine. “OK, can you be a little more specific? Are we talking about small arms, artillery, or something else? Do you want better guns, or do you want us to create a gigantic mecha tyrannosaurs rex?”

  Zach couldn't help smiling. “Can you do the last one?”

  “Nah, I just made that one up. But anyhow, what are you looking for?”

  “Have they told you about our next prospective adventure?”

  “What the one where you're going to drop way behind enemy territory, take a district and then hold it until they relieve you?” Yusuf asked. “Well, I think it's completely crazy, but yeah, I heard about it.”

  “Yeah, you're not the only one that thinks it's crazy. That's why I'm here, actually. I don't think we have enough firepower for a sustained fight within the district, especially if we have to do it on our own.”

  “Your air power is something that can make up for a lot.”

  “Yeah, except we can't exactly rely on it if Ragnarok doesn't want to allow it,” he pointed out. “Unless we're going to be able to seriously challenge them before we launch the attack. Any progress on your end?”

  “There's no way,” Yusuf replied, shaking his head. “We're going as fast as we can, but we need to make sure we get every detail right. Otherwise, our pilots are going to get up in the air and then find out they're flying very complicated, very expensive rocks.”

  “OK, that's what I thought.”

  The Hydra Alliance might have an airbase near the front lines right now, but they still had to rely on their Gales for air to air combat, and that remained a losing prospect against veteran pilots with better equipment. The new jet fighters might be able to turn the tables, using their superior speed and power to overwhelm the enemy.

  There was just one problem. Ghost Battalion had found only six fighters within the airport district, and worse, there was no schematic. In fact, the schematic they had discovered was for an antiaircraft mount, and they already had the design, making it effectively worthless. The fighters themselves were a good find, but right now the alliance had no way to replicate them, s
o risking them in combat was a huge gamble.

  It was like the powered exoskeletons they had found in Central City so long ago, Zach thought to himself. They were powerful and gave Ghost Battalion a significant amount of mobile firepower, but they weren't invincible and they had no way to replicate them. One had been destroyed at Green Bay, and the rest were currently in storage, only to be activated in a dire emergency.

  Zach would have loved to bring them along for their assault into the Shorewood District, but he didn't think it would constitute as an emergency. But he still didn't believe they'd be able to take the district in their current state, not without suffering heavy, even crippling casualties in the process.

  “Here's the thing. We're going to be out of range of our artillery, and air support is probably going to be spotty at times. We're not going to be able to bring a Bull along with us, so we'll need something to give us some backbone. Otherwise we're going to get stuck attacking strongpoints with infantry weapons, and that's going to be dangerous. We're good and all, but we're still vulnerable to small arms fire or getting sniped.”

  Yusuf stood up and wiped the grease off his hands with a rag. “OK, so you want something like an airborne tank? Or something of that nature?”

  “That would be good,” Zach nodded. “Something we could drop into the battle zone from a Colossus. It doesn't have to be as powerful as a Bull or one of Ragnarok's tanks. Just enough so we can have a little more oomph when we fight.”

  “OK then. Let's see, so it has to be transportable, easy to operate, since you're probably not going to have a ton of time to train with them, capable of carrying decent firepower and having decent protection.”

  “Yeah. We don't ask for a lot, do we?” Zach said jokingly. “But in all seriousness, we need something that can give us a little extra punch. That's all.”

  “Hmm, and it has to be relatively reliable, otherwise you and the rest are going to get stuck spending a lot of time doing maintenance, right?”

  Zach nodded. Vehicles in World at War weren't just drive and go affairs. They ran out of ammunition and power, but the real issue was maintenance. Over the course of time, their components would start to wear out and gradually break down. If they weren't properly taken care of a powerful unit could quickly become useless when all of their equipment ceased to function.

  Rogue Battalion took the brunt of it, since they were entirely mechanized, and Ghost Battalion had their fair share of upkeep to perform, with helicopters and river craft requiring their attention. Adding armored vehicles would only increase that load, but Zach felt it was a necessary step. They could either perform a bit of maintenance, or they could get stuck trying to crawl within grenade tossing range when assaulting an enemy position.

  “The part of the city you're dropping into won't have taken heavy damage,” Yusuf mused as he opened up his wrist menu. “That means the streets will be relatively clear, at least from our normal standards.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means that you won't necessarily need a tracked vehicle, because you're not going to need to climb over mounds of destroyed buildings and rubble. That simplifies things a bit, actually.”

  “Simplifies what?”

  Zach glanced over his shoulder to see Paige entering the prototype wing. “Huh, I was wondering where you were at.”

  “Long time no see. So, you have a tech fix you want us to do?” she asked.

  “He wants an armored vehicle,” Yusuf informed her. “One that's light enough to air drop, but strong enough to take on fortified positions.”

  “Hm,” she said, running a hand though her shoulder length black hair. “Those are pretty restrictive parameters, but we should be able to work something out. So, you were saying something about wheels, I heard?”

  “Yeah, that's what we were discussing. Since the district they're attacking won't have come under bombardment they won't need to have a tracked vehicle.”

  “Yup, that simplifies things quite a bit,” Paige nodded. “We can put it on wheels, which makes it a lot lighter and easier to drop. You can either make it ultra light, or you can add a bit more armor and firepower.”

  Zach rubbed his chin. “That all depends on what you're suggesting. What kind of firepower it has, how big it is, that kind of thing. I'm sorry, but I'm a lot more of a visual person. I can't really suggest improvements until I have something in front of me to look at.”

  “Fair enough then,” Paige shrugged. She opened up her wrist menu and activated the projector. A second later a holographic pen appeared in her right hand.

  “On the fly designing, huh?” Zach commented.

  “Yup. And you get a front row seat to it all,” Paige said. “Now, let's start from the beginning. You want a vehicle that can cary heavy weaponry and stand up to some punishment. Given the designs we currently have, we might want to base it on the Mule or the Bull.”

  “The Bull would probably be better, since it's enclosed. I know they've been having problems with Mule crew members getting sniped when they're operating inside the city. Unless the weight is going to be an issue.”

  “It is heavier, but keep in mind we're taking the tracks off and replacing it with a different drive system,” Yusuf said. “That's going to reduce the weight anyhow, and it's probably light enough to drop with parachutes, so long as we don't overload it.”

  Paige brought up the Ram design and started to make adjustments, deleting the tracks and the drive wheels.

  “OK then. Now the question is, what kind of vehicle are we making? 4×4? 6×6? 8×8?”

  “I'd go with 4×4,” Yusuf said. “That minimizes the weight and means it'll be easier to maintain. I know it's not the most sturdy design, but it's probably the best tradeoff we can get.”

  Zach nodded. “Right. And I'm not expecting this to be able to shrug off hits like a main battle tank. It just has to be able to deflect small arms fire and shell fragments, things like that.”

  “And you want heavy weapons.”

  “Yeah, preferably something that can take out a building.”

  Yusuf opened up his own wrist menu and started scrolling through a list. “Hmm, it's going to have to be fixed in place if it's heavier artillery. But then there's the problem of ammunition weight. Having a big gun doesn't do you much good if we can't get you the ammunition for it.”

  “Well, what do you think is best?” Zach asked. Yet again, the lack of a secure supply route was coming into play.

  “Maybe a 30mm autocannon?” Paige suggested. “That's light enough to mount in a turret and packs a little more punch than a machine gun. It'll go through brick and normal concrete.”

  Zach had been on the receiving end of an autocannon before, and knew how devastating they could be. Granted, this wasn't in a quad mount, but it was a bigger gun, and it would add some sorely needed firepower to the mix.

  “Can we add anything else?” A grenade launcher, maybe? Or something that can deal with armor?”

  “Your best bet for that would be to have a recoilless rifle team working with the vehicle,” Yusuf told him. “I'd say that the other weapon should be a pintle mounted machine gun on top of the turret for the commander. Infantry is going to be the biggest threat, not armor.”

  “OK, I'll take that under advisement. Anything else I should know?”

  “Is this strictly an attack vehicle, or do you want transport capability?” Paige asked.

  Zach grimaced. “I'd love to have transport capability, but that's not its primary function. And that's going to add to the weight, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So delete it. I'd love to have it, but this is supposed to be a support vehicle.”

  Paige looked over at Yusuf. “That means we might be able to shorten the length of the vehicle.”

  “A little bit. Not too much, though, because we don't want to sacrifice ammunition capability.”

  “Is that going to do anything to the engine?” Zach asked.

  “Let me see those n
umbers,” Yusuf told Paige. He took a quick glance at the projection and made a few calculations in his own wrist menu. “Well, we won't know until we actually build and test the thing, but the vehicle is lighter, even with the turret and ammo added on. That means greater power to weight ratio, which means it'll move faster. And it's on wheels, so that'll increase the speed too.”

  “That's good to hear.”

  “Yeah, but it's not like you're going to be drag racing them anytime soon,” Yusuf said. “This design is interesting, though. The rest of the alliance might want to look into this as a patrol or a reconnaissance vehicle.”

  “Please don't bring this up until after you've built them for us,” Zach said. “I really don't want our heavy support to get taken away from us.”

  “Oh, don't worry. The alliance command directs us, but ultimately we're the ones that decide what we're producing and who we're producing it for.”

  Zach nodded. “Thanks. So, not to press my luck, but when would you be able to build one?”

  Paige closed out of the design and opened up another menu. “Let's see. Looks like we're through producing replacement Rams at the drive works, so we have some open space. Doubtless they'll be clamoring for more, but too bad. You guys seemed to have gotten stuck with the worst job, so we'll help you first.”

  “Glad to see someone else is on our side,” Zach said with a smile.

  “Happy we can be of service. So, this design is going to need to be fine-tuned a little bit, but that should only take a couple of hours at most. Once we take care of that it's just a matter of building the prototype.”

  Zach was surprised. “That easy?”

  “That's the benefit of working off a preexisting design as a base,” Yusuf said. “We just have to make minor adjustments and we're good to go.”

  “Provided it works correctly,” Paige added. “We're going to have to test it extensively to make sure that it works well enough to be used in combat. And then we have to figure out how to get it on the ground.”