“Yeah, I heard it was bad,” Karen agreed. She had been caught in the wrong place with a few of her company and were slaughtered by the NPC garrison, having played no part in the larger battle.
“You're probably lucky you missed it,” Selene told her. “Most of us were killed in the first wave by the dive bombers. The ones that didn't got charged by the Valkyries and bayoneted. I ended up in the second category, unfortunately.”
“Yeah, it sounds like something I'd want to miss.”
“So anyhow,” Robbie cut in, “how are we going to go about things differently? Do we try a different landing zone?”
“The problem with that is our choice of landings zones is limited,” Selene said. “If we don't go for one we have to go for one of the other two, and Ragnarok has to know that. They'll call down their dive bombers and it'll be a repeat of last time.”
“Are there any other options besides coming in by water?” Karen asked.
“There's always the prospect of an airborne assault, but that puts our helos at risk,” Robbie said. “Unless we can get good air cover we're going to take heavy losses.”
Selene shook her head, feeling the frustration rising inside of her. “Well, unless Magic Battalion manages to take Jone Harbor those are our only ways in. Unless you want to try going in by parachute.”
“I'm guessing you're not terribly partial to that?” Robbie said lightly.
“Yeah, no kidding.”
Karen shrugged. “Then it's a choice of what poor option is going to hurt less. Do we go for something that's already failed once, or do we chose the other option when we might take heavier losses?”
“Right now we might not have enough river craft to do the job,” Robbie pointed out. “We'd have to use every one we have at our disposal, including the gunboats and maybe even the mortar ones. But a helicopter assault is going to put a lot of valuable assets in serious danger, and they can't be replaced easily.”
Hephaestus already had their hands full trying to replace armored vehicle losses in the other district, plus bringing new designs online. Ghost Battalion would only add to the backlog.
Selene shook her head. “This is what I was afraid of. Command wants us to grab the district, but I don't see how this can end other than a bloody mess.”
Gavin suddenly spoke up. “Maybe we're looking at this the wrong way,” he suggested.
All eyes turned toward him.
“What do you mean by that?” Selene asked curiously.
“Maybe we're not thinking laterally enough. All the discussions I've heard are about how we're going to get past the enemy's air power and into the district. But if that airpower isn't there then we have a bunch of options. I think the better question is, how can we neutralize their dive bombers?”
“We've already talked about fighter cover,” Karen said.
“That's one way. Why even let them get that far? Have we been tracking where they've been coming from?”
“We haven't,” Selene said.
“Then that's where we start. I know that it's hard to do when you've got bombs falling all around you, but if we can tell where they're coming from and where they're going we can track them back to their airbases. And once we find them, we can pay them a visit, can't we?”
“So track the enemy to their bases and then take them out on the ground,” Robbie summarized. “And once we do that it frees up the airspace over the district.”
“Exactly. And it takes away one of their best assets, so it helps the entire alliance.”
“One problem with that,” Karen spoke up. “I'd think they would have anticipated that being a possible threat, so they probably have countermeasures in place. First we have to track them all the way back to base, and then we have to reconnoiter the bases themselves.”
“I know. But that's better than trying to charge up a beach with bombs falling all around us, right?” Gavin said. “At the very least we can pinpoint their bases and set watchers there so we can have an early warning.”
Selene nodded. “I think this might be one of our better bets. I've compared the fights in Shorewood to bashing our head against a brick wall. If at all possible I'd like to go around that wall, and this might be our chance for that.”
“We'll need to secure scout teams. Redd Foxx would have been great for something like this,” Robbie said.
“That's why our entire battalion is rangers,” Selene told him. “We all might not have the skills of Redd Foxx, but we can hold our own. Enough to scout them and hunt them down.”
“Still,” Gavin said thoughtfully, “it might be nice to have some experts. At least, having someone like Miko around would help.”
“Good luck getting her. She's on the other side of the river, away from all the fighting, and...”
Selene's voice trailed off as she though. Miko hadn't played much of a part in the battle for the Shorewood District, being trapped on the other side of the river and unable to cross the bridges. Could they find a way to extract her and then assign her to something useful?
“So, you want a helicopter extraction?” Robbie asked thoughtfully after she had explained her idea.
“That would be good.”
“We might be able to do a night extraction with a Hornet. Mind you, it's going to be dangerous, but it's better than anything else. I assume you don't want a suicide respawn?”
“No, and I don't think she does either.” Miko's skills would be reset if she died, taking away several important assets including her crack marksmanship. She'd have to build it back up from scratch, which could take months.
“We're organizing for raiding, though?” Karen asked.
Selene nodded. “Looks that way. We'll know more after we get information, but we should prepare for that mission type. It's one of our strengths, after all.”
She didn't know how feasible the plan would be in the end, but at least they had some light at the end of the tunnel now.
18
Watchers
“Sentry, we have outbound enemy aircraft heading over your position.”
“Copy that,” Danny said quietly, then went to work getting the rest of his platoon moving. “Xavier, Javy, spread your guys out and have them keep their eyes peeled at the sky. Watch for the dive bombers as they pass over us, and keep track of what way they're going.”
“Roger.”
“Understood,” Xavier said. “Do you want precise compass directions and coordinates?”
“Anything and everything you can get,” Danny instructed. He wouldn't be the one breaking down the data, but too much was probably better than too little.
He settled back into position, watching the streets for any signs of activity. Their mission might be to determined where the dive bombers were coming from, but that didn't mean they could ignore their immediate surroundings. The Shorewood District remained a highly dangerous place, and lack of awareness could lead to a swift death.
They weren't going to get everything in one shot. Not even close. Right now their task was to determine the exit routes that Ragnarok's planes used to leave the area. Over the course of several days or even weeks they'd compile data, looking for patterns. They couldn't trust one or two sets of observations, because if Ragnarok had any sense they'd vary their flight patterns.
Other troops from their battalion were out in the field, acting as spotters to try and pinpoint the airbases. Even if the planes took different routes each time they would have to eventually converge on their home base. That would become apparent through careful reconnaissance, and then the battalion could proceed with the second part of the operation.
Danny didn't exactly like sitting back and being passive, but they had little choice at this point. Trying to take the district in the face of heavy opposition from two enemy factions would be difficult, probably impossible in his book. He knew that some of the others wanted to try anyhow, but in his mind that was only going to get them all killed for little gain.
These order suited him much bett
er, because they could at least try to turn the tables in their favor before their next assault. The Valkyries hadn't deployed their rocket artillery within the district, even though he could here it firing far away on some days. Instead, they were using their dive bombers as their main form of support, allowing a single company to punch far above their weight.
But if they took away that advantage then the enemy would fall. No matter how skilled the Valkyries might be, they couldn't stand up to a battalion with more than double their troops and a significant amount of firepower to go along with it. Destroying one of their enemy's best assets could go a long way toward winning the conflict as well. Ragnarok would need time to recoup their losses, giving Hydra the upper hand for the foreseeable future.
None of that would happen without sufficient information, though, and they needed to get as much as possible. Danny hoped they would be able to get enough information within a week to start making progress, but that might be too optimistic. Ragnarok was using their dive bombers in the Jones Harbor District, probably because of the lull in the fighting here, but that could change at any moment. And if they came under attack the whole information gathering mission could be completely derailed. Danny didn't imagined they be doing much observation if they had to constantly dodge bombs.
“Danny, they're here,” Javy said.
He could hear the faint drone of engines getting closer, coming in from the south. Danny craned his neck and looked skyward, trying to get a glimpse of the enemy force.
There. Faint at first but rapidly approaching, he could see a dozen black dots heading over the district, most at a relatively low level. It might be arrogant, but there was a reason for that. No side had effective antiaircraft weapons, and planes could attack with near impunity, coming under only a slight risk from ground fire. Still, Danny would have chosen altitude just to be safe. It only took one lucky shot to make you look like a complete idiot, after all.
He saw a couple of the planes waggle their wings, probably somewhere over friendly positions. For some reason that annoyed him more than it should have. Here was the enemy, acting completely casual right where Ghost Battalion could see them. Danny wasn't one to take offense at petty slights, but the thought of that rankled.
The dive bombers continued on their course, heading north and then turning slightly to the west as the passed overhead. He noted they weren't headed straight toward Madison like they might expect. Was that just a tactic to throw off observers, or were their airbases actually away from their main city? They'd find out soon enough.
“We have coordinates and exit vectors,” Xavier alerted him over the radio link.
“We got them as well,” Javy said. “Hopefully they're right.”
Danny nodded. “It's fine. The higher-ups can take the time to decipher it all. We just have to figure out how to get it.”
He guessed that the directions they had observed were slightly different, but since they had also taken note of their own coordinates the analysts could take note of that and compensate accordingly. Once they got more data they'd be able to find consistent patterns, gradually leading them to their target like they wanted. Danny knew it wasn't going to be a fast process, but they had spent several weeks trying to fight their way forward, only to meet with disaster. If it took a bit longer to get it right then he wasn't going to be the one to complain.
“Are we good?” Javy asked. “They're out of sight of my guys.”
“We're good,” Danny confirmed. “Let's pack up and head back to base. Bravo-”
His words were suddenly cut short by a hail of gunfire. Several bullets ricochetted off the concrete wall ahead of him, passing dangerously close to him. Danny immediately ducked down as far as he could, trying to get as much cover as possible.
Those definitely weren't shots from the garrison troops. They didn't have the marksmanship to come that close unless it was by sheer luck. No, he thought to himself as the gunfire picked up even further, there had to be a Ragnarok patrol out there somewhere. How had they gotten so far behind the garrison's hospital strongpoint?
Such questions were unimportant right now. Danny had to reestablish control over his platoon and direct them against the enemy. He didn't know how many troops the enemy might bring to the fight, and his platoon couldn't afford to take losses at this point. Danny cautiously pushed his head around the edge of destroyed wall, trying to get a better view of their predicament.
He didn't hear the shot, but something knocked him backward, throwing him to the ground with force like a punch. Danny's vision went hazy, and for one awful moment he thought he had been killed or critically wounded. But his vision cleared back up, and then he was able to get back to his feet.
But the attack made him leery, and Danny tried to figure out another way to observe the fight. Another sniper had most likely targeted him. By sheer dumb luck the bullet had only grazed him, knocking off his helmet and causing a light wound but otherwise leaving him completely unscathed. Danny thanked his lucky stars: another half an inch lower and his brains would be up against the opposite wall.
“Xavier, Javy, talk to me,” he said. “What's going on?”
“That's what I want to know,” Javy replied.
“Wait, what?”
“We're coming under attack,” Xavier told him. “I'm guessing you've gathered that by now.”
“No kidding. Almost had my head blown off a second ago.”
“We've got nothing on our end,” Javy replied. “What do you want us to do?”
Danny had to think about that for a moment. He was currently with Xavier's squad, and the fire coming at them was as bad as any he had seen in a while. But if the enemy didn't know that they also had another squad on hand…
“Hold position for now,” Danny ordered. “We have have to make a quick withdrawal, and you can act as the rearguard. With a little bit of luck they might run right into you before they even know what's happening.”
“Roger.”
“That all depends on us being able to get away from them,” Xavier warned.
“Try to get as much info as you can on the situation,” Danny ordered as he moved toward another part of the building. Hopefully that would confuse the enemy's aim, at least for a little bit.
“Understood.”
He descended a floor and then moved to a position in the northwest corner, carefully looking for someplace to look out again. Bullets smacking into the building's concrete facing, taking out chips. None of them punched through, however. That meant the enemy force wasn't carrying anything high caliber like a heavy machine gun or an autocannon.
He couldn't relax, though. Accurate shots could take out anyone trying to fire back, and ricochets remained a serious danger. And there was always the possibility the enemy had something up their sleeve like an automatic grenade launcher or a flamethrower…
Danny tried to peer out one of the windows, but a shot zipped by his head and forced him back into cover. He turned to see the chunk it had taken out of the wall behind him and decided to put something even more solid between him and his assailant.
There was no doubt about it. The enemy had a sniper, and he or she was directly targeting him. Danny wondered if he had been selected by sheer dumb luck, or if the sniper had marked him as the leader. Probably the later, he decided. Ragnarok snipers generally knew what they were doing.
This one might have gotten a little impatient, though, because the last shot had missed. If they had taken the time to steady their shot for a second more then he'd probably have a bullet in the head right now. As it was, though, he couldn't move. The building he was sheltering in had steel beams as supports, and he had placed himself behind one. Even with its concrete exterior he wasn't sure if a sniper caliber bullet could still penetrate or not, but he didn't want to take chances.
That left him cowering and unaware, though, completely unable to see anything going on with his own two eyes. He'd have to rely on data fed through the wrist menu, but that might not be enough.
“Xavier, how's it looking?” he asked. “I'm pinned. They have a sniper.”
“Yeah, no kidding. I think he's taken a shot or two at me as well,” came the reply. “Looks like we're facing only a squad or so, but they're heavily armed.”
“What makes you think that? I mean, the part about a squad.”
“They have us pinned. If they had a platoon they'd have charged us by now, but I don't think they have the numbers to pull it off.”
“So they're standing off at a distance trying to pin us and pick us off?”
“Looks like it.”
Danny guessed that most of the enemy squad was laying down suppressive fire, trying to keep them pinned while the sniper picked them off. However, there seemed to be a snag in the plan, because their sniper seemed to be focusing too much on the leaders. Danny understood that taking out officers could result in panic and confusion in a unit, but there was such a thing as being too focused on a single objective. Their foe might be better off taking shots of opportunity on some of the other troops, even if they weren't as high up the chain of command.
Besides, even though there might be some momentary confusion if he was killed, the rest of the squad would rally. Black Wolf was used to working on their own in small units, and the loss of one of their officers would only be a momentary setback.
But he couldn't afford to sit here forever. Eventually the enemy would get tired of waiting and try something. Whether that would be a withdrawal, an assault or a bomb through the roof was anyone's guess, but Danny wasn't sticking around to find out. They needed to break off with as few casualties as possible, because without enough troops to hold the Lake Park one of their enemies was bound to roll over them and force them out of the district for good.
Danny braced himself for his next move. If he managed to get by the windows quickly enough he could get to the inner stairwell away from the barrage of bullets. But the enemy sniper was likely waiting for him, and one of these times the shot would be on target…
Commando City: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 7) Page 18