The anti-tank guns were their next priority. Danny knew that many of the others feared the prospect of being confronted by a flame tank. He wasn’t exactly eager to do so either: a machine like that could cause huge amounts of carnage. But even standard tanks could be dangerous, able to stand off at a range where targeting them with a recoilless rifle was dicey. Even if they could hit it at the edge of their range, the crews would have to expose themselves to enemy fire.
Once those were completed, the final step would be to install long-range artillery, giving them the ability to immediately reach out and hit anything in the district. In fact, they might even be able to hit targets in some of the other districts as well.
“Danny,” Xavier’s voice said over the radio. “Are you guys all set up there?”
“We are. We’re wheeling the carriage into position right now.”
“Good to hear. Could you drop the line back down the elevator so we can get the gun up next?”
“Will do.”
Together he and Javy lugged the set of cables over to the elevator shaft and carefully lowered them down. Simply dropping them might be faster, but Danny didn’t think that whoever was at the bottom would appreciate being smacked in the face by a steel cable descending four stories. Besides, they might end up damaging the elevator shaft itself if they weren’t careful.
“OK, we’re dropping the line,” Danny said. “I assume you have a plan to keep it from getting damaged on the way up?”
“Yeah, it’s wrapped in padding,” Xavier said. “Plus, the way the hoist system works you should be able to pull it up the center of the shaft just fine.”
Their Hephaestus team had devised an ingenious lifting system, using a pair of pulleys anchored to sturdy metal bars, which were then extended out over the center of the elevator shaft. The pulleys could also roll from side to side once a lock was disengaged, allowing the crews to bring their cargo much closer for unloading. Once the steel cable was in place, a team could pull a load up with minimal resistance and then bring it into the main building.
It worked for compact loads, but Danny wondered how it would fare when they dealt with something like a long gun barrel. Wrestling it out of the elevator shaft might be quite the undertaking, and if someone slipped it was a long way down to the bottom.
“OK, I see the cable,” Xavier said. “Give us a few minutes to get the barrel hooked on.”
“Roger. We’re not going anywhere for a while.”
“That’s an understatement,” Javy quipped.
“What does that mean?”
“Well, come on, look at how much of a beating we’ve taken. Even if we want to go fight somewhere else, are we really in fighting shape?”
“I’d say we’re good enough to put up a good fight, but not quite at our best,” Danny said. “Marksmanship is going to be the biggest thing, but if everyone set their specializations right then there shouldn’t be much of a problem with a lot of the other skills.”
“Marksmanship is pretty important, though.”
“Heh, to some people maybe. Me, I’ll get by spraying bullets.”
“I’m sure the supply guys will love your for that.”
“Hey, I’m a heavy,” Danny said. “Always have been, always will be. It’s my job to waste a ton of ammo.”
“Touché.”
“And that has nothing to do with our stealth skills either,” Danny said.
“What, you’re nonexistent ones?” Javy grinned.
“I’m perfectly fine.”
“Yeah, like an elephant.”
“Elephants actually walk very quietly, so there,” Danny retorted.
“Whatever. I get what you’re saying, but would you really want to get caught in a fight with second-rate troops who are still trying to get back on their feet?”
“Wouldn’t be ideal, but we could deal with it. But yeah, staying put right now might be the best idea. We can retrain our skills, and marksmanship is a little less important in a defensive position.”
“Always looking at the bright side of things,” Javy said cheerily. “Makes me almost forget about all the suicide missions you seem to like to send us on.”
“Haha, you’re such a comedian.”
Danny’s wrist alert went off, and at first he thought it was Xavier telling him that the next load was ready. But instead Zach’s voice greeted him on the other end of the line.
“Danny, how are you guys coming?”
“Good. We’re just finishing up getting one of the guns emplaced.”
“That’s good to hear. Are you at a good stopping point?”
Danny frowned. “We’re in the process of bringing up the barrel and getting the gun put together, but after that happens, yeah.”
“OK. Finish up with that, and then get your platoon together. We’re sending three Mules to pick you guys up.”
That certainly surprised him. “What for?”
“We need crews for the guns, right? Bravehart’s going to train you how to operate them.”
“All of us?”
“All of you. We need everyone to have at least basic knowledge in case we suffer heavy losses during some of the fights. You don’t have to be experts, but you guys should at least know how everything works.”
“Right. We’ll be there in a few.”
It might be outside of what they normally did, but Danny could see the wisdom in the decision. Troops that could perform a multitude of roles were extremely valuable. On the other hand, that was probably why Black Wolf kept getting themselves thrown into the fire.
Oh well. If one thing could be said for their elite status, it was that their days in the virtual world were never boring. Black Wolf would always be somewhere, doing something important in the thick of the fighting.
“What was that about?” Javy asked.
“It’s our lucky day,” Danny told him. “We get to go learn how to fire that thing, as soon as we get the rest of it up here and assembled.”
“No kidding.”
“Nope,” Danny said with a grin. “I’m thinking this is going to be pretty fun.”
* * *
BAM!
The sound of an anti-tank gun reverberated around the clearing just south of the city. It didn’t have the teeth-rattling power of a 155 or even a recoilless rifle, but Danny had been assured the weapon would do its job.
“Alright, alright,” Bryce said as he watched the ad hoc crews work. “You’re getting it. Load, aim, fire. Once you’re able to do that smoothly, we’ll start speeding up the rate.”
Danny stood on the sidelines with him and Zach, partly because there were a limited number of crew slots for the pair of guns, and partly because he wouldn’t have been much help anyhow. Bravehart and Griffon Companies were the artillery specialists of the alliance, and Danny was content to let them go to work.
“So, are they going to be enough to stop a tank?” Zach asked.
“Oh yeah. You’ve placed them on what, the third level?”
“Fourth, actually,” Danny told him.
“That’ll work just fine. They’ll have trouble dealing with the frontal armor, but side and rear armor are a different story. And the shells will slice through top armor pretty easily.”
“We can adjust the elevation of the guns, right?”
Bryce nodded. “Oh yeah, that’s pretty simple. Normally the guns only elevate upward, but the guns being issued to you are basically flipped upside down, so they can be trained downward. Now, there’s a limit to it, but if they get to a point you can’t fire on them then you could just use grenades.”
“Easier said than done,” Danny said lightly. “You’re not the one that has to charge the thing.”
“Eh, as long as you have good aim it should never come to that.”
BAM! BAM!
“They’re looking good,” Danny commented as he watched the novice gun crews work. “Of course, what do I know?”
“Nah, you’d be right. They are doing pretty well,” Bryce sa
id. “This is a pretty simple gun to learn on, but that’s a good thing.”
Danny agreed. They’d need well-trained crews as soon as possible, because the peace and quiet wasn’t going to last.
8
STRONG WALLS
The harsh sound of his alarm pierced through the veil of his dream and forced him awake. Zach rolled over and turned it off, then sat up, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes. He had a long day ahead.
After going into the kitchen to make coffee, he turned on his tablet and opened up the file containing the information he’d need for later, when he met with some of the development team at Elysium Visions.
Project Avalon. Elysium Visions’ next foray into virtual world games would take place in a fantasy setting, trading guns for swords. At this stage, though, everything else was up for debate.
What would the classes be? How many different races did they want? How would players earn money? What kind of weapons did they want to make available? Did they want magic? And what about the design of the world?
They had so many questions they had to answer before the design of the project could really start to come together. The one thing that Zach noted was that the virtual world MMO would have a system to convert in-game currency to real world money. That wasn’t just a matter of creating another income stream for the developer either: Elysium Visions had commitments from over a dozen large corporations toward their concept of a virtual marketplace. If successful, advertising dollars would come pouring in, which would then be used to fund the in-game currency. A few hours of adventuring could net players a tidy sum, able to be spent in the marketplace or even exchanged for real-world currency.
Zach remained uncertain if the concept would actually work, but it remained intriguing nonetheless. And if it worked, it was completely ingenious. Players who might be on the fence about joining the game might do so if they had the opportunity to make actual profit.
On the other hand, there was also the possibility of scams and cheating, just like in every other MMO. In this case, Elysium Visions would take security measures in order to lessen the damage, and simply absorb the rest as a loss. No security system could be perfect, and so the only thing they could do was to try their best.
Zach poured himself a cup of coffee and looked over the files again. The parts regarding the monetary system were all well and good, but his focus would be on the actual gameplay and world. All the bells and whistles, buzzwords and concepts meant nothing if the gameplay and world wasn’t compelling.
But what should he do? Where should he even begin? When he was on the development team for World at War Online Zach had a clear direction and purpose. His view of the game was restricted to a small box that he could concentrate his efforts toward. While he did have knowledge of the other systems in play, his main focus had been on the communications system.
His new position, however, wouldn’t allow him to sit back and focus on one thing. He had a supervisory role, making sure the various systems fit together into one cohesive experience. Zach knew the job would be difficult. Even little things could add up enough to becoming jarring and take players out of the experience.
Take, for example, the old class system in World at War. On the surface it was a tried and true concept being adapted for yet another game, but upon widespread implementation the issues became apparent. Players couldn’t operate equipment that wasn’t designated for their class, even if it was right in front of them. That could leave to incongruous situations where a player might be out of ammunition and surrounded by loaded guns he couldn’t use, simply because he didn’t have the right class.
The update had fixed that problem, along with many others, but Zach wanted to make sure Project Avalon was ready when they shoved it out of the door. After all, what kind of two-bit hack would want to release a buggy, broken game? Zach had enough professional pride to take his responsibilities very seriously, and he’d do everything in his power to make sure he met expectations.
He made a quick glance at the clock. Seven thirty. Only a few more hours before he dove headfirst into the project.
* * *
“So, how was it?” Nora asked when he logged in to the virtual world.
“Uh, fine?” Zach answered uncertainly. “Sorry if I can’t be more specific, but there’s not a lot I can say right now that won’t violate the non-disclosure agreement.”
“That’s a convenient excuse,” she replied with a slight smile playing across her face.
“I swear it’s true.”
“You’d swear it was true even if it wasn’t.”
“Gosh, you have such little faith in me,” Zach said, putting on a mock air of offense.
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll get over the disappointment,” Nora said. “Can you at least answer how much you think you got done? Without giving away any important details?”
“Yeah, I guess I can do that,” Zach agreed. “Well, it was your typical first day on a project. Getting to know people, defining what you’re doing and then starting to decide how you want to go about accomplishing that.”
“Sounds very typical.”
“Yeah, it was. The really exciting stuff isn’t going to happen until much further down the line, but we have to lay the groundwork for it first.”
Nora nodded. “I certain have had my fair share of stuff like that. I’ll probably have it again, if I pass auditions.”
Zach gave her a warm smile. “I think you will.”
“Thanks, but we’ll see,” Nora replied. Though she tried to hide it, he thought he could see a bit of worry on her face.
“So,” he said, trying to change the subject, “what have you guys gotten done today?”
Nora opened up her wrist menu and began scrolling through a list. “Well, we’ve made pretty good strides getting the communications lines set inside the buildings. The first six levels are all connected, and we have a line running from a command post on the top floor all the way back to HQ.”
Zach raised an eyebrow. “That much line was laid that fast? Is it buried?”
“It is,” Nora confirmed. “Mostly because we didn’t have to dig the trench by hand this time. Hephaestus Company brought an engineering Mule with them and simply carved it out with the bulldozer.”
That was certainly welcome news. If Ragnarok used their radio jamming technology in the coming attack, and Zach believed they would, Black Wolf needed some way to communicate with the artillery batteries and commanders in the rear. Their tower could also act as a nexus for the forward part of the line, becoming a secondary command post if the radio went down.
In fact, once the artillery was installed the tower could act as formidable fire support as well. It might not be able to reach out and lay down hurt like the 155s could, but in the chaos of battle some fire support was better than no fire support at all.
Nora continued. “We brought up another one of the 45mm guns and installed it, so we have some firepower built into the tower now. We’ll add the others once the elevator gets fixed.”
“How’s that coming?”
“Slow. The elevator cars are completely unsalvageable, so we’re going to have to build new ones in Central City, then ship them in by rail and then by ship.”
“That sucks,” Zach commented. He had hoped that their engineering team could repair the heavily damaged elevator cars, since that would save them a lot of time and effort.
“Do we have a timeframe for them?”
Nora touched something in her wrist menu and then sent him a message. “Actually, Paige looked it over and came up with an alternate design that’ll take less time for them to build.”
Zach opened it up and took a look. “OK, so is this more of a lift than an elevator?”
“You could say that. It only needs a platform, four cables attached to winches at the top of the shaft, and maybe a railing if we really want it.”
“Looks simple enough,” Zach agreed, using his engineering skills to assess the plans. “If we reinforce
the lift platform that might allow us to carry much heavier payloads than a regular elevator too, since the lift design is a lot lighter and will put less strain on the building.”
“That’s something you should probably talk over with the other engineers. Me, I’ll stay out of the way and try to stick to something I’m good at.”
“That’s a lot of things, actually.”
“Thanks. Oh, and Javy’s putting together a team to get a field hospital operation inside the tower.”
“I can’t believe we didn’t think of that.”
“Yes, but that’s why we listen, isn’t it? In case someone comes up with a good idea that we’d never think of in a million years?”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
Nora closed out of her wrist menu. “So that’s it, really. We’re still trying to get the interior of the building set before we move on to getting the outside parts of it ready.”
Zach nodded. Sure, they’d like to have everything done at once, but Ragnarok probably wouldn’t give them enough time for that to happen. If it came down to it, the existing building provided enough cover and strength to repel an infantry assault, especially with their numbers. Black Wolf’s biggest concern right now was dealing with tanks from inside the tower, which was why they spent so much time and effort getting the anti-tank guns ready to fight.
“How much ammunition do we have for the guns?” Zach asked.
“About thirty rounds of both fragmentation and HEAT ammo,” Nora told him. “There’s more on the ground floor, but we were going to wait until the elevators were operational before bringing them up.”
“OK. As long as we have them in the building we should be fine,” Zach said.
“That’s what I thought too.”
“So, I guess I’ll go see how much I can help with the construction, since there doesn’t seem like there’s anything else to do right now.”
“Sounds like a plan. Oh, and by the way, I pulled Selene off the line for now and sent her platoon back for the gun crew training. It seems pretty quiet now, so this is probably the time to do it.”
Carnage City: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 6) Page 8