Werewolf: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 4)

by Mitchell T. Jacobs

  “Copy that,” they responded.

  “Are you sure you don't want us to leave a small force here, at least?” Liz asked.

  “Positive. Keep pushing so we can capture the district. We have Hoplite in the reserve area, if things go really wrong.”

  “Nice to know that we're finally going to see some action,” Nora replied with some snark.

  “Hey, you'll get your chance.”

  “We better.”

  “Alright. Head to your designated points. Wolf Lead, out.” Zach changed the channel again. “Black Lead, Spectre Lead, come in.”

  “Copy,” Karen replied.

  “I'm here as well,” Neil added.

  “The mortars are going to hit the enemy trapped in the pocket on our left flank,” he informed them. “They should stay pinned down, but stay alert as you head through the area. Engage them if you have to, but focus on reinforcing Black Wolf and Redd Foxx. Thorn and Myrmidon can take care of the rest when they reach shore.”

  “Got it,” Neil said. “Do we have all the antiaircraft guns accounted for?”

  “We think so,” Zach told him. “Keep your eyes open, though, and radio us if you find one. We'll hit it with the main gun.”

  “Redd Foxx and Black Wolf are going south, right?” Karen asked.

  “That's correct.”

  “Then I'm going to take Barghest in a sweep to the west and then south. Hopefully we can catch the enemy in a pincer movement.”

  “Understood, but don't stray too far away from the rest of the force,” Zach told her. “Otherwise, it's going to be a lot harder to provide support.”

  “Will do. Black Lead, out.”

  “Spectre Lead, out.”

  Zach looked back over at Anna. “Well, here goes nothing.”

  “Same old, same old,” she commented. “A bunch of street fighting, with a boss waiting at the end of it all.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Do you wish you were on the ground?” Anna asked.

  Zach shrugged. “I mean, yeah, I'd love to be in the thick of it, fighting. But I need to be here. There's too many moving parts that need to be coordinated, and I can't make you do it alone.”

  “We could have used someone else,” Anna said.

  “Who, exactly? Nora's in charge of Hoplite, and taking Liz strips Redd Foxx of both its top commanders.”

  “Technically, you just did that with your own company.”

  “Meh, Black Wolf doesn't really have a second in command. Depending on the day, it could be Nora, Selene, or Danny. So leaving it with them is fine.”

  “Well, I'm glad you're here, at least,” Anna said. “This would be pretty hard to pull off by myself.”

  Zach looked back down at the map. “Yeah. And we're not even doing the really hard job.”

  Crack!

  “Did you get him?” Selene asked.

  Miko looked though her scope. “I got one of them.”

  “What do you mean one of them?!” Selene exclaimed.

  Miko started to train her sniper rifle again. “Like I said, I got one of the heavies on the roof. There's actually two of them up there.”

  “Well, can you take him out?”

  Crack!

  “There, it's done,” Miko said.

  Selene could see the results of her work. The torrent of enemy fire coming from the other side of the street had died down. Where there had been an impenetrable obstacle before, now there was a golden opportunity.

  Selene toggled her radio. “Alpha Wolf, across the street by squad! Alpha 3 first, then 2, then 1. Let's move.”

  “Do you need me anymore?” Miko asked.

  “We could use you,” Selene said.

  “That wasn't the question. Do you need me anymore?”

  Selene sighed. “No, we should be fine.”

  Miko nodded. “Right. I'm going to see if I can go lend some of the others a hand.”

  “Good hunting.”

  “Don't get yourself killed,” Miko replied, just before she faded into the shadows.

  Selene shook her head as she looked away. Miko's ability to disappear was uncanny. And while it might be impressive for her, it was probably terrifying for the enemy. They had no idea when death was suddenly going to sneak out of the shadows to grab them, and that made them fearful.

  Or at least, as fearful as virtual constructs could be. Selene wasn't sure that NPCs could feel fear, but if they didn't, they faked it well.

  Humans inside the virtual world could feel fear, though. Even though they knew it was just a game, the fear of death was still present. Nobody wanted to run out into a hail of lead. Many times, that fear froze them.

  But the veteran players had overcome that fear. To them, dying was just a part of the business of World at War. Cowering and hiding wasn't going to change that, and so, they were aggressive.

  Black Wolf was one such unit.

  Logan's squad broke cover first. They stormed across the street, heedless of the enemy bullets. There wasn't much for them to fear; Ethan's squad had positioned themselves well and laid down a barrage of cover fire. Then they charged as well.

  Selene moved over toward Gavin, who was getting his troops into position for their attack. “Ready to go?”

  “We're ready,” Gavin told her. “No quick way about this, huh? We're going to have to storm this place street by street.”

  “I'm hoping that this is part of the enemy's main defensive line,” Selene told him. “If we punch through then we should have an easier time ahead.”

  “And if they're clinging to every inch of ground?”

  “Then we're going to have to fight them house to house. Why, do you want to just give up if that happens?”

  Gavin snorted. “Nope, I'll pass. But we'll get bogged down.”

  Selene nodded. “And that's why we brought so many troops.”

  “Bravo Lead, come in.”

  Danny perked up. “That you, Karen?”

  “Yes, that'd be me.”

  “Where are you guys at?”

  “We're coming in from the northwest,” she said. “I think we're going to hit the enemy right on the left flank, relative to you.”

  Danny chanced a glance out of the window next to him. The enemy force opposing them had dug themselves into a pair of apartment buildings, each three stories high. His platoon had been forced into cover and were duking it out from a distance. They weren't going to advance anytime soon unless they got help.

  “Can you get across the street?” he asked.

  “We can. I don't think they know we're here. But I want to make sure this has the greatest possible effect, so I wanted to coordinate the attack.”

  “Much appreciated,” Danny replied. “Do you have our positions?”

  “Command has been relaying them to us,” Karen told him. “Have you moved any in the past five minutes?”

  “That'd be a negative.”

  “Right. I'll move Barghest into position and attack. I'll signal you once we have their attention.”

  “Thanks Karen. I'll relay that to my guys.”

  “Tell Ryan not to get Bravo 3 killed.”

  Danny laughed. “I'll tell him.”

  He switched channels and gave out his orders. Danny didn't think that his platoon would have any trouble following them. Bravo Wolf could brawl with the best of them, and they weren't going to shy away from the killzone of the street in front of them. They had already survived the beach. What was one more obstacle like this one?

  Danny leaned out the window and fired off a burst, trying to keep the enemy suppressed. There had to be at least a company opposing them. Either that, or the enemy had a lot of machine guns.

  “We're launching our attack,” Karen cut in. The volume of fire grew even louder.

  “Bravo Wolf, be ready to move at a moment's notice,” Danny said to the others.

  “Who first?” Javy asked.

  “Your squad can be first, since you asked,” Danny said. “Xavier follows, then Ryan.”
>
  “Gee, thanks.”

  “Well, don't speak up next time,” Xavier commented.

  “OK, maybe next time we'll draw names from a hat,” Javy replied.

  Karen cut in again. “Bravo Wolf, your way is clear.”

  “Thanks Karen,” Danny said. He braced himself. “Bravo Wolf, let's move!”

  “And we sit here doing nothing,” Terra said. She and the others were watching a column of Thorn Company troops moving toward the south. The pocket in the east had been collapsed and then annihilated.

  “Give it time,” Nora said, though in truth she felt impatient herself.

  “I think I'd rather be on the front lines now, fighting on foot,” Terra said. “The suits are great and all, if we were allowed to use them.”

  Nora shrugged. “They're valuable. Too valuable to risk without a good cause.”

  “And we sit here doing nothing because of that,” Max agreed. “Being trapped in the north by Ragnarok was more fun. At least we got to do something then.”

  “Just wait unit we have a target,” Nora told them. “Then we can go wild.”

  “Why don't we just head straight for the center capture point to provoke the boss?” Justin asked.

  “Because we want to make sure we know what we're fighting,” Nora told him. “Rushing in without any information is a good way to get curb-stomped.”

  “So we've got to wait for the infantry to make their breakthrough,” Max said. “Wouldn't it happen much faster if we helped them?”

  “Again, it's a waste of energy, and we don't have enough fusion batteries,” Nora said, though doubtless they already knew.

  It was because they were going stir-crazy, Nora thought to herself. All of them had been on the front lines for dozens of fights, and they wanted in on the action. One taste of battle, and you were hooked. Nora felt the pull herself, even though she was also used to operating behind the lines coordinating the action.

  Was it bloodlust? Rage? Boredom? Whatever it was called, it unsettled Hoplite Platoon. Well, everyone except Will, that was. He had remained silent throughout the whole ordeal, though Nora couldn't exactly get a good read on his emotions. For all she knew, he was fit to burst.

  “Hoplite, come in.”

  Nora answered her radio. “Hoplite.”

  “Nora, this is Danny. Bravo Wolf and Barghest have breached the enemy line. We're approaching the capture point, so you might want to move in our direction.”

  “Do you know what's there?”

  “No, but we'll be able to find out by the time you reach us,” Danny said. “I figured that you'd want a head start. It'll give you something to do.”

  “Thanks,” Nora said. “Hoplite Lead, out.”

  “Orders?” Will finally spoke up.

  Nora nodded. “OK, suit up and follow my lead. We're heading down the western end of the district, following in the footsteps of Barghest Company. We're going to kill the enemy boss when it shows its face.”

  She looked around and saw the anticipation on their faces. Finally, after weeks of boredom, they had a fight on their hands. And what a fight it was going to be. They might not know what they were up against, but bosses were always tough.

  Nora jogged over to her exoskeleton and climbed in, then closed the hatch. The systems booted up after a few seconds. She flexed her limbs to make sure everything was in working order.

  “Hoplites, report in.”

  “Hoplite 2.”

  “Hoplite 3.”

  “Hoplite 4.”

  “Hoplite 5.”

  Nora turned her suit toward the south. “Let's move!”

  “And so it begins,” Zach commented.

  “Hopefully it's nothing too tough,” Anna said.

  “I'm pretty sure that nothing's going to top the Lerna Bastion boss. Or the one in Eagle Creek,” Zach said. “Or, the boss might be as tough, but we're more experienced and better equipped.”

  “Fine, go ahead and tempt fate,” Anna said with a slight smile.

  “Oh, come on. It's not a fight until we have to come up with some crazy solution on the fly,” Zach said. “Where's the fun in having everything go right?”

  “I hope you're joking.”

  “I am. Mostly. But looking back, it was a lot of fun trying to come up with solutions in the middle of the battle. Even if it didn't feel that way at the time.”

  Anna looked back down at the map. “OK, so Barghest and Bravo Wolf have achieved the breakthrough. Hoplite is following them, and Thorn Company is headed south as well. Alpha Wolf and Redd Foxx should be able to push through to the east. Spectre and Myrmidon are clearing out the walls. Raven is covering us from above. All in all, it's going pretty smoothly. Pending the boss, of course.”

  “This seems like it's too easy,” Zach said.

  “Again, tempting fate by saying things like that out loud,” Anna cautioned.

  “Don't say that you're not thinking about it as well,” Zach replied.

  “OK, maybe a little. But I wasn't going to say anything out loud.”

  “But you feel it.”

  “Yeah,” Anna confirmed. “But maybe we're looking at it the wrong way.”

  “Hmm?”

  “Like you said, we're more experienced and better equipped. Maybe there isn't something waiting to lower the boom on us. Maybe we're fighting the best the enemy has to offer, but we're too good.”

  Zach frowned. “Then have we broken the game? There's not much point in fighting if there's no challenge.”

  “Well, we don't know what other places have to offer,” Anna said. “Plus, this is for NPCs. Human players are a whole different matter.”

  Zach nodded. No matter how sophisticated an AI became, it still couldn't match the ability of the human mind, let alone a collection of them. And fighting Ragnarok was where the real challenge of the game lay.

  Still, it was best not to underestimate the challenge before them. One wrong step, and they would be in serious trouble.

  “We're at the capture point,” Danny communicated to the rest of the battalion. “Hopefully the boss will show itself soon.”

  “Little eager to die,” Xavier said beside him.

  Danny looked his way. “Oh, come on. We'll be fine.”

  “Could you not say things like that when you're standing next to me?”

  He laughed. “What, afraid my bad mojo is going to get you as well?”

  “I'd rather not chance it,” Xavier shrugged.

  “Man, none of you are any fun at all,” Danny complained lightly. “It hasn't even shown up yet.”

  Xavier pointed at something in front of them. “Speak of the devil.”

  Danny looked in that direction, then starred more intently. An enemy vehicle was moving down the street. It was tracked, and it had a turreted main gun. The armor looked thick as well.

  Danny activated his radio. “Command, we have a tank in the area. I say again, we have a tank in the area. It looks heavier and better armed than the Ragnarok models.”

  “Copy that,” Anna replied over the radio. “We'll spread the word.”

  Xavier tapped him on the shoulder. “Not just one,” he said.

  Danny took another look. Sure enough, there were two more tanks advancing down the wide street in front of them.

  “Command, we have three tanks in the area. I say again, three tanks.”

  “OK, that changes things a bit,” Anna said.

  He had to agree. One tank wasn't going to be much of a problem. They had the weaponry to hit it from the top, side or rear and kill it. But three tanks was an entirely different story. The vehicles could cover each other, and they could kill most of his platoon in one well-aimed salvo.

  “Bravo Wolf, you there?”

  Danny snapped out of his thoughts and answered. “I'm here, Hoplite Lead. Trying to figure out how we want to deal with the enemy tanks.”

  “We can distract them,” Nora replied.

  “I don't think you have the firepower to hurt them,” Danny
told her. “Their armor looks pretty thick.”

  “We might not be able to harm them,” Nora said, “but we can get their attention. That'll give you and Karen the opening to go after them with recoilless rifles.”

  “That's risky.”

  “Less risky for us than it is for you. We have better mobility, and better protection. I'm assuming they have machine guns on them, right?”

  Danny looked. “Yeah, they have machine guns.”

  “They won't do anything to our suits,” Nora said. “They'll kill your guys. So using us as bait is probably the safer option.”

  “We're also going to have to deal with the horde of infantry that's going to spawn right now,” Danny replied. “You might be better off doing that.”

  “We have others to take care of that,” Nora replied. “Or did you completely forget about the eastern part of the attack?”

  “I remembered,” Danny said. “But the enemy needs to attack them instead of us.”

  “I don't think that Selene and Liz are going to give them a choice,” Nora said. Danny thought he heard a smile in her voice.

  He smiled as well. “Well, you're right about that.”

  Like fish in a barrel. Selene aimed down her sights and gunned down another enemy soldier below.

  Crack!

  Miko's rifle barked. She had returned to them after none of the other units needed her help, and was making her presence felt.

  Selene toggled her radio. “Liz, there's another squad that's going to come into your field of view in about five seconds.”

  “Copy that, Alpha Wolf,” Liz replied. Sure enough, Redd Foxx opened fire about five seconds later and scythed down even more enemy troops.

  Selene had positioned herself in a five story building that had a commanding view of the rest of the streets. From here, she could see every movement for several blocks. It was a good thing too; the enemy was starting to appear in huge numbers, and they might be overwhelmed.

  “There's a couple platoons moving toward us,” Miko warned from her vantage point.

  “Are they going to cross Redd Foxx's killzone?” Selene asked.

  “Doesn't look like it, and it'll probably be bad if the manage to close with us.”