Carnage City: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 6)

by Mitchell T. Jacobs

  “Probably ground assault. I get the feeling that they’re like us and want to keep the structure relatively intact.”

  “Yeah, and I’m not sure how much damage they could do to it anyhow,” Paige commented. “This building is pretty sturdy. Looks like solid reinforced concrete. Ever see pictures of one of those flak towers that are still standing in Germany?”

  “Yeah, I think I remember seeing them in my history textbooks in high school.”

  “Going on one hundred thirty years and they’re still holding up,” Paige said. “I ended up touring one of them when I was in Berlin for a trip. This reminds me of one of them, actually.”

  “Really?”

  “Well, this might not be quite as sturdy, but it can probably take some hits. We’d probably have to bring in the 155s at point-blank range to hurt them.”

  If that was true, then that eliminated one possible issue. Nora had been worried that the Ragnarok would eventually give up on retaking the tower once they met heavy resistance and would then simply flatten it with rocket artillery strikes. But if Paige’s observations were correct, that option was off the table now.

  “Would the 75mm guns be able to take out a tank from long distance?” she asked.

  “Possibly, though we really don’t have good anti-tank ammunition for it.”

  “That has to be making it hard on the assault gun crews.”

  “Yeah, it is. But we might have an alternative.” Paige opened up her own wrist menu and activated the projector. “Get a load of this.”

  “A gun? Isn’t that a lot smaller than the 75mm one?” Nora asked.

  Paige touched her wrist menu and sent her a codex entry. “It is, but size doesn’t mean everything.”

  Nora opened up the message and took a look at it. 45mm anti-tank gun, the entry read. Nora skimmed over it mostly technical data, but from what she could gather it looked somewhat promising.

  “So is this really any better than the 75mm gun?”

  Paige nodded. “Oh yeah. That gun is an artillery piece. Good for fire support against structures and infantry, but against something with heavy armor it’s not going to do much against it except at close range. This might have a smaller caliber, but the gun and the ammunition are tailored for killing armored units.”

  “So we can pretty much take out an enemy tank with this?”

  “Um, most of the time,” Paige elaborated. “It can’t penetrate the frontal armor except at close range, but then again, neither can the 75mm gun. But anywhere else on the tank is fair game.”

  Nora looked back at the entry again. “Looks good,” she commented. “And if we put it up high then we can aim at the top armor, right?”

  “Right. Oh, and another advantage is that the ammunition is much lighter, and the gun can fire pretty rapidly.”

  “How much faster?”

  “Well, the 75mm gun can fire between three to eight rounds a minute, depending on the crew. This is more like fifteen to twenty five.”

  “Oh. That is a lot faster.” She paused for a moment. “Where did you get this from? Did it come out of the archive in Central City?”

  Paige frowned. “Um, I wish it did, but no. We’re still having to decode most of the schematics, and that’s slow going. We’ll eventually have enough skill points in engineering to do it all, but that’s only half the problem. Even if we have the designs, we don’t have some of the resources needed.”

  “So where did this come from?”

  “It’s a public design from the foundries in Old Chicago, like the 75mm gun and the ATVs. Someone must have found the schematic and then sold it for a profit.”

  “Ah,” Nora replied, suddenly understanding.

  Schematics could be sold to NPC corporations for significant amounts of money, and many companies were hard-up for cash. Selling what appeared to be a nearly useless item for hundreds of thousands or even millions of credits seemed like an attractive option.

  Neither Hydra nor Ragnarok took that option, though. In fact, when Black Wolf had discovered their first schematic Nora had been insistent that they keep it to themselves. It gave them a significant advantage on the competition, and they had parleyed that into a fortune, and then into a sprawling alliance.

  Overdrive still sold well to companies that used combat stimulants, and the Hydra Alliance could charge high prices because they were the only ones who could produce it. That was true for many of their other assets, from their helicopters, to their armored vehicles, even to things like their power supply. Ragnarok had their own secrets as well, and both sides remained locked in a technological race.

  “You’d think they would have learned by now,” Nora said. “Even if they didn’t have any use for the schematic, they probably could have leveraged either alliance for a ton of money. How much would we have paid to keep this away from Ragnarok?”

  “A lot, I’m guessing,” Paige agreed. “But then again, maybe they needed money badly. Strongholds within the city aren’t cheap, and trying to grab one anywhere close to the hub is pretty much impossible.”

  Nora nodded. Ragnarok and Hydra pretty much had a deadlock on the immediate area surrounding the Old Chicago hub. Other areas further away were less settled, but they were wild land, teeming with all manner of vicious creatures and far from supply. Running out of medicines, batteries or even bullets was a real possibility, and only Hydra and Ragnarok had significant industrial capability outside the hub.

  “That means they’ll have them too, right?”

  “I’m guessing they’ve kept themselves in the loop, so yes. I’m not sure how much that will help them, though, because they already have a good gun for their tanks. It’s better than this, at any rate. But if you want to create a fortified position, these can certainly help.”

  Nora glanced at the number along the stairwell wall as they continued to climb. 14. They were almost at the top.

  “So, we’ll look into adding artillery and communications lines. What can we do outside at the base of the tower?”

  “Depends how much time and effort you want to spend on it,” Paige shrugged. “If we’re going by what’s ideal, then blockhouses or bunkers with tunnels leading back into the tower would be ideal. But that would take forever, and I’m pretty sure we’d get mortared during construction.”

  “OK, so what’s the most practical option?”

  “Build a fort around the base of the tower with packed earth and rubble, and set up machine gun nests and trenches,” Paige told her. “Doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Maybe make them like the redoubts we have north of Lerna Bastion.”

  That was an apt comparison, Nora thought. The redoubts weren’t anything special, just small bases with a network of trenches and pillboxes, with a battery of heavy guns in the center. They weren’t anything fancy, but they could slow or even halt an enemy attack until reinforcements arrived.

  They could do something similar here, except the tower had the potential to be much more powerful than a trio of 155mm guns. With a combination of height, a strong garrison and artillery it could devastate any incoming attack from a long way off, maybe even before the enemy had a chance to shoot back.

  “So… maybe I’m getting ahead of myself here, but how are we going to get this all installed?” Nora asked. “We’re going to have to build it in the middle of a combat zone, and Ragnarok lines are about a hundred yards away. Even if they don’t launch an attack, you can be sure that we’ll have enemy snipers paying us a visit.”

  “Yeah, that could be trouble. Well, we usually use Mules for construction work, but maybe we’ll switch to a Ram instead. That should at least take care of the sniper problem, and it’s not that much of a stretch since they’re the same chassis.”

  “Are you going to be able to see well enough to work?” Nora asked. The Ram’s enclosed cabin had a much smaller field of vision than the opened topped Mule.

  “Oh yeah, we’ll be fine. And you’ll be keeping overwatch over us, right?”

  “Right,”
Nora confirmed. The snipers had been the only unit not to take a severe beating in the last fight.

  “OK, that’s perfect. We’ll look into emplacing guns in the tower, maybe placing some platforms at the corners to put them on. We’ll want to cover all angles.”

  “Even toward our own lines?” Nora asked.

  “Well, in case you get cut off,” Paige said. “Then you can defend yourself from all sides.”

  “Until we run out of ammunition, that is, but I see your point.”

  “We could see about digging a tunnel between this place and somewhere further back behind the lines,” Paige suggested. “That way if you get cut off you’ll still be able to get supplies and reinforcements, though that’s more of a luxury right now.”

  Nora nodded. It would certainly be nice, but right now her main concern was trying to fend off an attack coming within the next few days, not holding out against a lengthy siege. Besides, once they gathered their strength the entire alliance would be on the move again, trying to take the Cudahy District in a final push.

  They had over half the district in their hands now, along with several options to break through the enemy’s lines. They had the sewer route discovered by Selene, an amphibious landing along the shoreline, or a possible thrust from either Dragon or Magic Battalion’s positions.

  But their enemy wasn’t going to give up their ground without a difficult fight, and Nora was certain they’d make good on the message they had sent to Zach. They’d be back to take this place, because whoever controlled it could dominate the battlefield.

  They reached the roof, patrolled by a few snipers and a crew centered on the antiaircraft gun still present. It was the standard type sold in Old Chicago, yet another schematic sold off by a company in need of cash, so getting more ammunition for it wouldn’t be much trouble.

  Nora imagined they’d need it eventually, because Ragnarok was probably going to dive bomb them sometime in the near future. When that happened she at least wanted some way to fight back, even though the structure would hold up against anything they could hit it with.

  “Ah, what a view,” Paige commented as she emerged. She quickly grabbed at her patrol cap as a hard gust blew past them. “A little breezy up here, but hey, you can see for miles.”

  Nora walked to the edge of the roof and took a peek toward the enemy lines.

  “Putting yourself at risk, huh?” Miko’s voice said.

  “Yes. I guess it’s your job to guard my back.”

  “Well, guess I won’t have to do that much today. Their side of the lines is completely dead. Apparently they’re licking their wounds from the attack yesterday, although we’re not much better off.”

  Nora didn’t reply as she continued to look over Ragnarok’s positions. Only half the district to go, but how long would that take? And after they had won this place they still had more districts to take. Some were owned by Ragnarok, and some still remained in the hands of the NPC garrison, but both would pose stiff challenges.

  The last month had been a tug of war, each side gaining and losing ground street by street, inch by inch. It couldn’t go on for much longer. Every day that Hydra delayed meant more time for their enemies to prepare, and more time for other foes to appear. There might be only two dominant factions around Old Chicago, but they would eventually run into players from the other hubs, and who knew what would happen then?

  They had to hold this place. It would give their alliance a staging point to launch their final, critical thrust toward the central capture point. And so they’d do everything in their power to keep their hands on it.

  Even if that meant pouring in considerable resources and being tied down in a brutal city fight.

  7

  TANK BUSTER

  “Heave!”

  Danny gritted his teeth and yanked on the rope with the rest of his crew, trying to pull a load of equipment up the elevator shaft. Hephaestus Company was still trying to fix the elevators, so right now the fastest way to get supplies to the upper levels was to haul them up by rope.

  They could have waited for the elevators to become operational, but Zach, Selene and Nora had insisted on bolstering the defenses as soon as possible, and Danny agreed with them. Even though the fighting for the tower had been fierce, Ragnarok had only suffered relatively light casualties during the battle. In fact, most of their losses had been suffered at the hands of Crimson Eagle during the fight along the rest of the line. If they wanted to, Danny was sure they could muster the strength to launch a counterattack.

  And while Black Wolf had a strong position right now, they all wanted to make it even stronger. That meant bringing up the necessary equipment to turn this place into a fortress bristling with guns, even if they had to lug it up the stairs or elevator shaft with sheer muscle power.

  Their payload hovered into view, part of the chassis of an anti-tank gun. Getting them up and ready was their top priority, because Ragnarok had armored units operating in the city.

  Even without the guns Black Wolf wasn’t helpless against the tanks. They still had a supply of recoilless rifles and shells, capable of destroying a tank with just one good hit. They had power, good range and a host of troops that knew how to use them.

  But they had their weaknesses as well. Foremost among them was their backblast, enough to severely injure or even kill anyone standing behind the weapon when it was fired. The shockwave would reflect off walls too, making it impossible to fire inside of a building without risking serious injury or death to anyone in the same room. That meant the crews had to operate outside, leaving them very vulnerable to shellfire, snipers and even bursts of machine gun fire.

  The firer need to re-aim every time they reloaded as well, making shots even slower. By contrast, an anti-tank gun could remained fixed on a target as it was reloaded, reducing the time between shots. Even a second or two could be absolutely critical in a fierce fight.

  “OK, set her down,” Danny ordered as they pulled the chassis out of the elevator shaft and onto solid ground. A few seconds later and they were able to relax for a moment.

  “Jeeze,” Javy said, “why does it seem like we always get stuck with the heavy lifting jobs? Can’t Selene’s platoon do some of it too?”

  “They’re lugging cable and stuff from the supply depots,” Danny told him. “Once they’re done with that they’ll be helping Hephaestus get the elevators and phone lines in working order. Look on the bright side, at least you won’t have to dig ditches like them.”

  Javy cracked a smile. “Well, when you put it that way I really can’t complain. Heck, I’d take playing with the big guns over that any day.”

  “Glad to hear.”

  “One question that I haven’t gotten an answer to, yet,” Javy said. “Are we going to have a hospital or infirmary here? Or, more like a medical treatment center?”

  Danny shrugged. “Haven’t heard anyone saying anything about it. Why?”

  “It’s just something I think we should look into. Since we’re focused on one building we can move the wounded somewhere they can get treatment and then get back in the fight.”

  Danny hadn’t thought much about it before now, but it made sense. Ever since the updates had been implemented battlefield medicine had risen in prominence. Many wounds that would have been fatal in the old game were now only debilitating, enough to take a player out of the fight, but not enough to kill them immediately. If they received immediate medical attention they could often cheat death.

  And given the fact that most player skills outside a selected few reset when someone was killed, that was a godsend. It made medics valuable too, which often diverted them from combat. Now, they were usually too busy trying to treat the wounded.

  “Hey, if you think that it’s a good idea then bring it to Zach and Nora. I’ll back you on it,” Danny told him. “Is that going to take away some of your fun, though? You might get stuck inside the hospital instead of fighting.”

  “The update helped take care of that,” J
avy told him. “Now there’s a lot more skill involved in it.”

  “Yeah, I heard something about the overhaul, but does it change things that much?”

  “Oh yeah it does. Before you just had to do a simple task like wrap bandages or something, and that counted as using your healing abilities. Now we have to do things like perform actual battlefield surgery and the like.”

  “Jeeze, that sounds pretty nauseating.”

  “It’s not that gory. If anything, it’s like a puzzle,” Javy told him. “You just have to figure out what you have to remove, what you have to clamp off, what you have to sew up, that kind of thing. It’s actually pretty pulse-pounding, once you really get into it.”

  “OK, so you’re playing doctor while the rest of us play patient. So you’re telling me I have to lie there and hope that you can pull off everything correctly?”

  “Isn’t that what we always do?”

  “Point taken,” Danny replied. “That’s an interesting way to think about it, though. Even if you have the skills you can still mess up. A lot like shooting, I guess.”

  “I think that’s a pretty good comparison,” Javy agreed. “Besides, what would you rather have? Would you rather just die every time someone shot you, or would you rather have the chance to live through it and keep all your skill points?”

  “Well duh.”

  “My point exactly.”

  Danny watched as the rest of their crew began rolling the chassis into position next to one of the windows. They were on the fourth floor, giving them plenty of height to target the enemy without having to train the weapon at too steep of an angle.

  They’d have four guns up here once they were done, along with a ring of trenches and pillboxes surrounding the base of the tower, a pair of 75mm guns facing the enemy lines on the sixth floor, and a battery of 81mm mortars on the roof. When Black Wolf Company’s strength was added to the mix, this place would pose one formidable obstacle.

  But all that preparation would take time, and Ragnarok might not give them what they needed. In that case, they needed to prioritize. The elevators were the top priority, not only because they’d allow faster troop movement, but because they would also make it much easier to bring up the loaded of ammunition they needed to feed into the guns.