Danny lined up another target. “Dakka dakka,” he muttered to himself again.
They had spent more than enough time getting pounded by Ragnarok. Finally having the upper hand again was a welcome change.
* * *
Nora watched the carnage unfolding around her. The outmatched Ragnarok navy continued to put up stiff resistance, but the outcome remained inevitable. Ghost Battalion would wipe them out in short order.
She got on the radio. “Karen, can you take it from here?” she asked.
“Shouldn’t be a problem,” came the reply. “Looks like there’s only about six or seven of them left, anyhow.”
“Thanks.” She switched radio channels to the Black Wolf frequency. “Company, this is Wolf Lead. Break off and head for shore as per the second part of the plan. I say again, break off and head for the shore.”
River craft started pulling away from the battle, with Nora’s own transport in the middle of them. She made a quick count of them all as they fell back into an organized formation. No casualties.
Karen would complete the first phase of the operation, the destruction of Ragnarok’s fleet on Lake Michigan. That allowed the rest of Ghost Battalion to complete their second objective, sowing as much chaos and confusion on shore as possible.
Redd Foxx had already made their move, skirting the battle on the lake to close in on the city. They would light it up with everything they had, along with making limited landings along the beaches. Once ashore, small raiding teams would target important areas near the coast and level them with explosives. Spectre Company would help, dropping into landing zones already cleared by Redd Foxx to provide extra reinforcements. Meanwhile, Raven’s helicopter gunships would roam the skies, killing anything that tried to interfere.
Nora turned her attention skyward as a large group of planes flew south. Perseus Flight was headed home, their job finished for now. Helicopters could operate at night, but fixed wing aircraft had trouble finding their targets in the dark. They moved too fast and lacked radar, making sorties not worth the effort.
That created perfect conditions for them. Everyone in the major alliances had night vision equipment, but they knew how to utilize theirs the best. Darkness created uncertainty, which lead to confusion, which their battalion could exploit. They stalked the shadows and made everyone else fear the night. That was their name, after all. Ghost.
* * *
“We’ve landed several teams on the southernmost beaches,” Liz reported. “Neil says Spectre is headed there to join them.”
“Good,” Zach replied. “Continue toward your objectives, but don’t take too many risks. If you have to pull out, do it. I’m pretty sure we already have their attention.”
“I’d say that’s a safe bet.”
Zach changed channels again. “Black Wolf, we’re going to clear the way for Barghest to land raiding teams in this area. Light up anything and everything that looks remotely threatening or important.”
Their group of boats sped along the shoreline, blazing away at anything that moved. Of course, there were plenty of unmoving targets as well, and his company laid into them with enthusiasm as well.
The mood was infectious, and Zach felt himself being swept up in it as well. No hesitation, no checking to make sure that each shot counted. Ghost Battalion was here to make a statement, and everyone could blast away to their hearts content. While precision certainly mattered in many cases, sometimes it was good to just let loose.
Zach blasted away at the shoreline with his gun, focusing on a group of trucks parked next to a row of warehouses. They made tempting targets, and their destruction would hurt Ragnarok’s logistics apparatus. It didn’t matter what kind of fancy gadgets and weapons you had on the front lines. If you couldn’t supply them, they were completely useless.
A pair of Raven Flight helicopters zoomed overhead, firing rockets and miniguns at a target further back in the district.
“Ghost Lead, this is Raven 2,” one of them called out to him. “You below us?”
“You just passed the row of warehouses along the docks in the northern district?” Zach asked.
“Yup, that was us.”
“Copy that Blake. We’re below you.”
“I see four tanks assembled in a plaza further back from the docks. Looks like it’s a maintenance yard of some sort, but I’m guessing we don’t want to take any chances. I’ll try to kill them where they sit.”
“Copy that, but be careful,” Zach warned. “Don’t stray too far over any antiaircraft guns.”
“Hey, who do you think you’re talking to?” Blake asked in an amused tone.
“Right. Forget I said anything,” Zach said with a smile. Blake might be the best gunship pilot in Raven Flight. He certainly knew how to protect himself from ground fire.
He could hear alarms going off inside the district. Good. Their enemy definitely knew they were here. Now, to make them believe Hydra could pull off a serious attack at any time…
Zach trained his gun and fired again, raking down a pair of enemy soldiers that had suddenly appeared from around the corner. Doubtless there would be more.
He activated his radio. “Looks like the welcoming party has finally arrived,” he told the others.
“And so the real fun begins,” Danny said with some relish.
“How do you want us to proceed?” Nora asked, all business.
“Make sure we have a clear landing area for Barghest,” Zach ordered. “Blake has a Raven unit above us. Try to coordinate your fire with him.”
“Can we call in mortar fire if we need it?” Selene inquired.
“Of course. Redd Foxx is already ashore, and they have the rest of Raven Flight backing them up,” Zach replied. “Let’s get this done!”
Another Ragnarok trooper edged around the corner with an RPG on her shoulder. Zach and a half-dozen other guns immediately spotted her and shot her down.
Even with their complete sense of superiority, they needed to be careful. One good shot, and a dozen of them could be at the bottom of the harbor within seconds.
But that was part of the fun of combat in World at War. Battling on the razor’s edge, knowing full well that death surrounded you on every side. Few other experiences could match that thrill.
* * *
Bullets pinged off the gun shield in front of her. Selene ducked down as more passed close to her ear. Ragnarok might had been caught off guard, but they certainly weren’t caught with their pants down. Enemy units had rallied around the shoreline and began fight back with a fury, pouring fire onto the river craft skimming the waves in front of them.
Doubtless the entire operation would be analyzed back at base, combed over for every scrap of information they could find. How fast could the enemy respond, how they organized themselves, how effectively could they fight, and so on and so forth. It could determine whether alliance command thought an amphibious assault was feasible or not.
But right now, that didn’t matter. Right now, the only thing Selene was focused on was suppressing the defenses so Barghest didn’t get themselves killed.
“Danny, can you move your section further to the north?” she asked.
“We’ll try, but Ragnarok’s not making it easy,” he replied.
“Do your best. I want to see if we can catch them in a crossfire.”
“Right, but should we call it off? Looks like this beach is pretty heavily defended.”
Selene had to consider that suggestion. More and more Ragnarok troops were beginning to flood the area, and anyhow, they didn’t have any specific objectives. Carnage was the order of the day, and they didn’t want to risk their veteran troops for some worthless spot.
It would have been different in the older version of World at War, but the effects of the sync system had changed their approach. Losing troops didn’t mean just a temporary setback, it meant having to retrain them to get them back up to standard as well.
She couldn’t fault the change, though, because death had been far too
cheap under the old system. Now it paid to be cautious and mindful. It brought a whole new strategic element to the game, because now they had to weigh the worth of their troops against the worth of their objectives.
“Let’s see what we can do,” Selene told him. “If we can’t make headway then I agree.”
“Roger that.”
Selene switched frequencies. “Thunder, Thunder, this is Alpha Wolf. Do you copy?” she asked, calling out to the mortar section.
“Alpha Wolf, this is Thunder,” came the reply from the leader of the Bravehart crews manning the mortars. “Go ahead.”
“I’m sending you coordinates,” she said. “Can we get a few shells on target?”
“Copy that, Alpha Wolf,” Thunder replied. “We’ll fire a three round barrage apiece and go from there.”
“Thanks,” she replied. Selene sent the coordinates, her best guess as to the actual position of the enemy troops. Hopefully they could at least suppress them, because the weight of fire coming from the shore was steadily increasing. They hadn’t lost any boats yet, but it wouldn’t stay that way if this continued.
“This is Black Lead. We’re approaching our landing area,” Karen alerted them all.
“Hold tight,” Selene told her. “We’re running into heavy opposition. Hopefully it won’t last much longer.”
They might be able to fend off Ghost Battalion’s attack craft, but how would they fare against a mortar barrage?
* * *
Shells screamed down on the enemy positions, throwing clouds of debris and dirt into the air. Danny could see the occasional body mixed in as well. The effect was devastating.
At least, that’s what it looked like from a distance in the fading light, but he knew better. Having watched the mortars in action several times before and come under artillery fire himself, he knew things often appeared worse than they actually were. Coming under fire was never pleasant, truth be told, but it wouldn’t annihilate a unit that knew how to take cover.
Danny took out his binoculars and surveyed the damage, trying to assess just how effective the shelling was. From his vantage point it didn’t look promising. He could see the shapes of Ragnarok troops hugging cover, but they would be up and fighting again once the bombardment lifted.
He activated his radio. “Looks like they’re still hanging on,” he told the others. “I think this is going to be a no go.”
* * *
Nora watched the bombardment unfold as well, trying to determine the best course of action. They could throw Barghest Company into the breach, but for what purpose? Having spent plenty of time with them in their formative stages, she knew they were capable, good fighters, but what could they do, struggling to get ashore against a heavily defended beachhead in the dark?
And what could they accomplish, when they got there? They would have to fight their way inland to do any more damage, and doubtless more enemy reinforcements were on their way. Nora imagined they had managed to rouse the entire garrison.
“I’m with Danny,” she said. “Looks like this is a no go.”
* * *
Zach heard all the suggestions from his subordinates, but in truth he had already made a decision. Their lack of progress only served to reinforce that.
He opened the main channel to every member of the battalion. “All units, this is Ghost Lead. Whiskey. I say again, Whiskey. All units on the ground, extract and get back to your transports. Barghest, Black Wolf, move to Redd Foxx’s position and help provide cover fire.”
No point in staying and incurring more casualties at this point, he mused as his troops pulled back. They had already accomplished their goals.
He could just imagine how much Ragnarok Command would be sweating after tonight.
6
ANOTHER PATH?
“Everything looks to be normal.”
Zach looked over at the screen and the research assistant beside it. He didn’t know why, because the readouts on the screen meant absolutely nothing to him.
The assistant looked over a list on his tablet. “Anything unusual this week, medically speaking.”
“Nope.”
“Feelings of lethargy, exhaustion or the like?”
“No.”
“Headaches or migraines?”
“Nope.”
“Blurry vision, afterimages in your sight or double vision?”
“No.”
“Any phantom smells, feelings or sounds?”
“You mean feeling or seeing something that actually isn’t there?” Zach asked.
“That’s right.”
“Nope, haven’t had that problem,” he replied.
The assistant nodded. “Good. Looks like you’re not suffering any side effects from the neuro-helmet. Those are extremely rare, of course, but we want to make sure you’re healthy and functioning properly.”
Zach nodded. The medical tests had been going on for a while, though they had increased greatly after a year in the research study. That was likely because they wanted to study the long term fallout from spending a significant amount of time in a virtual reality. Any long term medical problems stemming from it needed to be accounted for, and they were the test subjects.
But Zach hadn’t seen anything to worry about, although he was pretty far from being anything close to a medical professional. He also imagined the company would remain hush-hush about certain things to keep from scaring them off, but there was no hiding serious medical issues. None of them had experienced anything dramatic, outside of an occasional headache.
The study’s strict requirements also served to keep them healthy. Elysium Visions wanted data from subjects who had good mental states and physical health. All of them were required to exercise a certain amount of time a week in order to stay fit. None of them had a problem with that order, since most had been athletes during high school and college. Zach had run track during high school and still enjoyed jogging, even in the cold Chicago winters.
There were also provisions for time off, which Zach welcomed as well. Nora’s family had a cabin in the Wisconsin backwoods, and sometimes it was good to leave civilization behind for a bit.
Speaking of which, he needed to remember to finalize plans with her later tonight. Yet another thing to put on his to do list.
Even with all the requirements, Zach remained quite happy with his lot. He had been a programmer working on a contract basis, often wondering if he would still have a job when the project finished. But now he had some security, and was compensated handsomely, to boot. Besides, he was being paid to play a game, and that in and of itself had many perks.
“Everything checks out fine,” the assistant told him. “Please make sure to report anything if it comes up between now and your next checkup. We want to make sure you stay healthy.”
“Thanks. I will,” Zach said as he stood up and exited the examination room.
All of the other doors in the hallway remained closed. The others were probably still in the process of going through checkups, he thought, but that wasn’t surprising. He had been the first one to arrive today.
“Mr. Wofford?” a voice called to him from further down the hall.
Zach turned toward the source. “President Starvos,” he said with a bit of surprise. Zach moved to meet him and took the proffered handshake.
“I trust you’re doing well, today?” President Starvos asked.
“Very well,” Zach confirmed. They had met many times over the course of the study, but Zach still remained somewhat in awe of him.
Anton Starvos, founder and president of Elysium Visions, one of the foremost tech companies in the world. They pushed the boundaries of computing technology, being the first to introduce quantum computing for practical use, the first to create fully immersive virtual technology, and the first to create a fully functioning virtual world. World at War Online was a culmination of all those technologies.
And he had been at the forefront of all that progress, taking the company from a garage to a g
lobal multi-billion dollar corporation with branches in several major cities. Without his intellect, determination and savvy none of this would have ever happened.
Zach felt slightly intimidated by his presence, even though President Starvos had shown them nothing but politeness and respect. Maybe it was his list of accomplishments. It sounded completely ridiculous, but Zach felt small in comparison.
“I actually have a question I would like to ask you,” President Starvos told him.
“Ah, yes?” Zach replied, not quite knowing what to say.
“I think it’s best to discuss in private. If you’ll follow me?” Starvos motioned to him. “My office should suffice.”
Zach nodded and fell in step with him. A private meeting with the president of the company in his office? What was going on here?
* * *
“I appreciate the work you all have done in our study,” President Starvos said from his seat behind his desk. “The data we’ve gathered from your work will help us greatly when designing future projects.”
“I’m glad to have been of use,” Zach replied, wondering where this was all going.
Starvos folded his hands on his desk. “And that’s what I brought you here to discuss, those future projects. You were a programmer on World at War Online, if I remember correctly.”
“I was,” Zach confirmed.
Starvos nodded. “Communications, was it? You designed many of the communications systems that most players take completely for granted. The designs are marvelous, actually. Simple, effective, but they have a certain elegance to them as well.”
“That’s gratifying to hear,” Zach responded. “I just designed them in a way that made sense. I didn’t think they were anything particularly special.”
A smile played at President Starvos’ face. “Ah, you might not have, but others might disagree. Lawrence, our section manager, was particularly impressed by how you were able to design such a system. And you did it almost completely on your own as well. I must say, when I looked over the records I was quite impressed as well.”
Deception City: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 5) Page 6