Werewolf: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 4) (5 page)

“Hey, this is great,” Yusuf said. “I get to play around with designs and let my imagination run wild. It's like a kid's set of blocks, engineering school and a hobby hot rod all rolled into one. And that's just plain fun.”

“Glad to hear that you can enjoy it despite all the chaos,” Zach said.

“Yup. I'll get a team together for you as soon as possible. Paige will definitely be in charge, since Garrett is busy with Lerna Bastion.”

“That'll be good,” he agreed. Paige had worked with them quite a bit in the past, and they meshed well together.

“And I'll figure out who she's bringing along.”

Zach nodded. He had another meeting back in the Eagle Creek district. “Thanks. See you later.”

“So, how do you read them?” Anna asked Danny.

Redd Foxx and Black Wolf were meeting to go over the strategic situation in the north. Anna, Liz and Gray were present for Redd Foxx, and Zach, Danny and Nora sat in for Black Wolf. Selene was heading north with Alpha Wolf Platoon, bringing Lex with her.

“Meaning?” Danny asked.

“Can they be trusted?” Gray asked.

“My reading is yes, they can be trusted,” Danny replied.

“I'm inclined to agree,” Zach said. “I think we just happened into a ridiculous stroke of luck.”

“Or it could be an extremely elaborate trap,” Gray said.

“Not sure that a trap like this would be worth it,” Liz commented.

Zach agreed. “If this was a trap, then it means Ragnarok is either psychic, or they have spies that are in this room right now.”

“Well, then it's not a trap,” Gray shrugged.

Nora spoke up. “Maybe not in the traditional sense, but is it a trap like Ronin? Are we going to spend too many resources on them for a minimal gain?”

“I don't think so,” Danny said. “Our goal is to take Green Bay. That opens up yet another front that Ragnarok needs to deal with. They already have us to the south and Ronin to the west. They're busy putting down the small guys here and there. That leaves them spread pretty thin, at the very least.”

“What happens if they discover us up there?” Nora asked.

“Actually, that might work to our advantage,” Liz said. “We're running off the assumption that their resource areas are located near Madison, especially to the north. Right?”

“Right,” Anna said.

“Well, if we take Green Bay and the find out about it, that's a threat they can't ignore. We'd have a dagger pointed right at their throat, and they'd need to take care of that before they do anything else.”

“Which leaves us with a swarm of angry Ragnarok troops descending on us,” Gray said. “Which is what you might want, I guess.”

Liz nodded. “Right. If they're fighting us up north, they're not threatening our important holdings in the south. That gives Dragon and Rogue Battalions more time to take Indianapolis.”

“But we also stand to drain ourselves as well,” Anna said. “We'll lose choppers for sure, along with ammunition and weaponry. And Hephaestus doesn't need any more on their plate right now. Secrecy is our best bet.”

“Right,” Liz nodded, “but if we get caught...”

“It still works to our advantage,” Danny finished.

“The question being, are Thorn and Myrmidon going to be reliable when the time comes?” Nora asked. Zach could tell that she wanted to be a part of the operation, but couldn't. Not while she commanded a new unit.

“The way I read it, yes,” Zach said. “I mean, they're hiding out in the middle of nowhere, scavenging for every last bullet they can find and reduced to using sharpened stakes and bows for weapons.”

“So you're saying a bow's not a real weapon?” Liz asked.

“Go fight her in the battledomes like I had to,” Danny suggested.

“I'll pass,” Zach said with a smile. Liz had trained Danny in the art of stealth, but also used the opportunity to hone her own skills. He had been a pincushion by the time they were done.

“Right, so what were you saying?” Anna asked.

“Oh, right. They're in a really, really tough situation that would break almost anyone, and yet they're still fighting. That means they're extremely tough, which makes me think they'll be a reliable ally.”

“But will they be a drain, like Nora said?” Gray interjected.

“I think that they have a little better sense of where they stand, in comparison to Ronin,” Danny said. “They compare more to White Tiger, if you will. Actually, from what I've seen, Lex had an approach to leadership a lot like Tafari.”

“And there's no Levi to get in the way,” Liz said.

“Thorn's commander, Evy. She's a lot like Karen, actually,” Danny said.

“You make them sound like good Hydra candidates,” Zach commented. “Even though they don't want to join.”

“They definitely are,” Danny said. “And I think we need to trust them. We're probably not going to do as well without them, anyhow.”

Zach nodded. “That I can certainly agree with.”

“We haven't fought alongside them yet,” Gray cautioned.

“Who's going to be the one to take the plunge, then?” Anna asked.

The three Black Wolf members looked at each other.

“Selene,” they said in unison.

CHAPTER 5

Bee's Nest

“This is a terrible idea,” Logan said over the radio.

“No, it's not,” Selene insisted.

“It is,” Logan insisted back.

“I'm inclined to agree with him,” Ethan cut in.

“Well, you can disagree together, but I'm still in charge,” Selene replied. “We're doing this.”

“Not to spoil any of the fun but do you really think that this is the best idea?” Gavin asked. “We're going to lose a lot if anything goes wrong.”

“And we stand to gain a lot if everything goes right.”

“That's an insane gamble,” Logan argued. “You want us to speed into the bay, provoke the defenses, and then cut and run? When we have no clue what might be lurking there?”

“Just use your speed and limit the window that you'll come under fire. We don't need to get everything done in one day. We just need a starting point.”

“We also don't need to lose any of our ships,” Ethan added in.

“Are you going to do it, or not?” Selene asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

“I'll do it,” Ethan responded. “Everybody please note my protests to this plan, however.”

“Covering yourself already?” Gavin laughed.

“OK, fine then,” Selene said. “Your craft gets to lead us into the bay. Neptune 1 will follow next, and then Neptune 3 brings up the rear.”

“Got it,” Ethan said. Now that their course of action was decided, he sounded focused.

“Everyone, man your guns and be ready,” she heard Gavin say to the rest of the boat crew.

The trip north had been long and tedious, and Selene could tell her platoon was bored when they reached their destination. She felt it as well. They needed some form of action, something to get their blood pumping. But Alpha Wolf wasn't prepared for any large-scale land actions around Green Bay. They still need essential supplies, and they had no real backup or heavy support. But land wasn't their only option. Selene had taken stock of their situation and devised a plan that would get them some action.

Alpha Wolf's three squads would load up onto river craft and speed into Green Bay harbor, guns blazing. They hoped to inflict some damage, but their real goal was to ferret out some of the enemy defenses. If they knew what they were up against, they could plan better for the actual attack on the city.

Logan and Ethan were right to be worried, but Selene had confidence in the abilities of her platoon and of the boat crews. They could get themselves out of danger if it came to that. And the information they would gain would definitely be invaluable. An amphibious assault from the lake was a definite possibility; Black Wolf and Redd Foxx had experience in that type of operation, and it might present them with the best opening. But first, they needed to know what they were up against.

“We're starting our run,” Ethan said, just before the commander of his boat gunned the motor.

Neptune 2 tore through the water at high speed, heading for the shoreline of the city. There were walls surrounding Green Bay, but they only covered the land, not the water. The shore might be lightly defended.

Boom.

Or it might not be. Selene thought she heard the sound of artillery fire in the distance. Her suspicion was confirmed when a geyser of water shot up to the starboard side of Neptune 2.

Boom.

Another geyser shot up, this one much closer to the river craft. Neptune 2 turned sharply, heading straight for the impact point.

Selene nodded approvingly. It seemed counter intuitive, but dodging toward the shellfire was probably the safest route to follow. The enemy gunners were probably adjusting their aim to try to hit the moving target, and wouldn't fire on the same spot twice. That meant Neptune 2 was safe for a few seconds, at least.

“Let's go,” she ordered, and Neptune 1 sped off toward the shore as well.

“Here goes nothing,” Gavin commented over the radio. Though they were on the same craft, it was impossible to talk over the wind and the engines without the radio. He stood at the back, manning a pair of heavy machine guns, while Selene had a single machine gun and stood right next to the pilot.

“Time for some fun,” Selene replied. “Everyone, cut loose and pummel them. Shoot anything that moves or looks remotely threatening.”

Neptune 2 was doing just that ahead of them, laying down a punishing barrage of firepower along the waterfront. Selene couldn't tell how much damage they were inflicting, but it sounded fearsome from where she stood.

Boom.

Another shell blew a pillar of water into the air.

“Alpha Wolf, we're going to break off our run,” Ethan said. “I think we can see where the shells are coming from.”

“Can we do anything?” Selene asked.

“Probably not,” Ethan said. There was a pause. “Oh, crap.”

“What?”

“It's following us.”

“What's following you?”

Selene watched Neptune 2 make a sharp turn and then speed back toward them.

“Break off! Break off!” Ethan said over the radio, his voice urgent. “The enemy has a ship, and it's coming after us!”

“What?” Selene asked, and then she saw it steaming toward them. Its main gun barked.

Boom!

A shell landed, closer to her own boat now. Selene pulled out her binoculars and studied the enemy vessel. It was bigger than anything Hydra possessed. Much bigger. From this distance it was difficult to tell, but it looked like it might be one hundred feet long, and it was moving fast.

Selene contacted all of her sections. “Everyone, break off and head back to Sturgeon Bay.”

There was no way they could fight something that size with just their river craft. They simply didn't have the firepower to do anything more than bother a ship that size, and risking themselves in a difficult battle was a foolhardy proposition. They were better off conserving their strength for later.

“Well, you can say I told you so,” Selene said.

“Well, come on. I don't think anyone was expecting
that
,” Logan commented.

Definitely true, Selene thought to herself. But still, being driven off like this left a sour taste in her mouth.

Back at Sturgeon Bay they took stock of their situation. Alpha Wolf had suffered no losses in the raid and had expended little ammunition as well. They hadn't gotten very far, but they had uncovered a valuable piece of intel. Now that they knew the enemy had some form of a navy, the amphibious assault was probably off the table.

Selene said as much at the informal meeting of her squad leaders.

“Could we slip by it?” Gavin suggested. “Our river craft are faster. I mean, we outran it pretty easily.”

“But it can funnel us into certain spots, which leaves us pretty vulnerable,” Selene said. “It sucks, I know, but it takes the amphibious attack off the table for now.”

“Unless we can figure out a way to sink it,” Logan said.

“That's not going to be possible without heavy artillery, and I have no idea how we'd get a 155 up here,” Selene said. “And I don't think that Griffon or Bravehart will want to sacrifice one of their guns to this front at this point. We're a sideshow, after all.”

“So it's definitely off the table,” Gavin said.

Selene nodded. “Afraid so.”

Ethan spoke up. “Well, maybe not. We might be able to find some sort of weakness in the pictures we took.”

Selene looked around at him. “Wait, you have pictures?”

Ethan nodded. “Yeah, we took them when we spotted the ship, and when we started running. I figured that they might be useful.”

Selene nodded. This indeed might be the opening they needed.

“Well, let's look them over. Oh, and message them to Zach and Nora. Maybe they can come up with something on their end as well.”

“You realize what you just found up there,” Zach said.

“A ship?” Selene shrugged.

Zach had surprised her with a message, asking that she come south to meet with Ghost Battalion's command. Apparently Ethan's tidbits had caused quite a stir.

All of the company commanders were present; Zach, Anna, Robbie, Neil and Karen, along with the other usuals like Nora and Liz. But Paige was also present, representing the engineering team assigned to their front. And apparently, it was her deductions that necessitated this meeting.

Paige had a schematic set out in front of her, fully decoded so that even non-engineers could read it. She tapped her finger against it.

“There's no doubt about it. That ship you ran into in Green Bay harbor? It's the exact same design as the one in this schematic.”

“Are you sure?” Anna asked her.

Paige nodded. “No doubt about it.” She adjusted her wrist menu so it could project images. “Here's a sketch I made, using the pictures as a guide. And here's the actual schematics.”

Selene leaned forward to look. Sure enough, they were a perfect match.

“So we know what we're up against, at least,” Neil said.

“And that gives us an idea as to its weaknesses,” Liz added.

“So we could figure out a way to sink it,” Neil said.

Karen spoke up. “That's not the vibe I'm getting from some of you.” She looked over at Zach, and then Paige. “Particularly you two. There's more to this, isn't there?”

“There's been some discussion,” Nora cut in. “We wanted to build one of these ships so we could use it to haul cargo, and for fire support. That was going to take a lot of resources that we don't have right now. But now we have one right in front of us.”

“That's in the hands of the enemy, and I'm pretty sure that they're not going to hand it over to us,” Liz said. “I'm guessing that you want to take it from them.”

“Yup,” Zach said.

“How, exactly, are we going to do that?”

“I'm going to leave that up to you guys,” Paige said. “I will say that it will save us a ton of time and energy if we manage to take the thing intact. Even if it's damaged, repairing it will be much easier than building one from scratch.”

“Aren't there a ton of defenses in the harbor?” Neil pointed out.

“There's a good amount, it appeared,” Selene confirmed. “I'm not exactly sure how we can do this without getting ourselves shot to pieces.”

“You said it followed you, though?” Zach asked.

She nodded. “Yeah, for a good distance, though it was pretty easy for us to outrun it. I guess they gave up after a while.”

“That might be the key,” Karen said. “You might be able to draw it out of the harbor if you keep baiting it.”

“Again, even if you do get it out of the harbor, how are you going to deal with it, considering the best you could do last time was cut and run?” Neil asked. “We're not exactly sitting on top of a gigantic arsenal.”

“We're not going to destroy it, we're going to board it,” Zach said. “We might lack the capability to sink a ship, but we sure have the ability to pull off a close-quarters assault.”

“How are you getting on board?” Liz asked.

“That's our job,” Robbie told her. “We can maneuver our river craft close enough to the ship to land boarding parties.”

“Going to be tough, when you're under fire,” Neil commented.

Robbie shrugged. “Yeah, it will be. But we're good.”

“I have full confidence that they'll be able to pull it off,” Zach said.

“Where are you getting fire support from?” Liz asked. “I'm sorry, but I'm just picturing this in my head, and my brain is telling me the boarding team is going to get slaughtered by the enemy while they're climbing onto the ship.”

“Again, that's Raven's job,” Zach said. “They'll have eight choppers up at Sturgeon Bay by the end of today. That gives us plenty of air units to support our attack. There's not going to be a lot of cover from above.”

“Who's going to lead the attack?” Selene asked.

“If this goes forward,” Anna said, “We can't devote all of our resources in the north toward it. If it fails, then we'd be completely screwed.”

“Oh, I agree,” Zach said. “We don't need the entire battalion, anyhow. There's not enough space on the ship for more than a platoon or two. This job should fall on Black Wolf and Raven, since we're the ones that came up with the plan.”

“Put one more mark in the insanity column for Black Wolf,” Liz said with a smile. “I can't really argue, given your track record with these types of things.”

“Plus, it'll give the rest of Ghost Battalion the opportunity to do other things around the Green Bay area,” Nora said.

Selene turned to her. “Speaking of which, are you going to be up north as infantry, or is Hoplite staying in the south for now?”

“We're staying at the bastion,” Nora informed her. “As much as I'd love to fight with you guys, we need to be in the place where we'll do the most good. And that's the place where we can use out exoskeletons.”

“This might be your ticket north,” Anna said. “Sending them over water on the river craft is one thing, but inside a hold of a ship is an entirely different matter. It's probably going to be a lot less risky.”