Werewolf: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 4) by Mitchell T. Jacobs

of the deck. Logan's squad was currently moving up to join them.
    It had gone better than she had dared to hope, and that was all thanks to Raven. Their boat pilots had performed masterfully, maintaining a constant speed between their own boats and the ship. Climbing up had been a cinch. And when they had reached the top of the rope, there was no resistance. There were enemy sailors aboard, to be sure. The deck was littered with bodies. But Raven had performed several precision attacks, hovering and putting themselves at risk to protect the boarding parties below.
    Black Wolf certainly owned them one, because without them they would have been gunned down as they tried to climb over the railing. But now, they could storm the vessel at full strength.
    But that might be the most difficult task of all. Selene was glad that they had the schematics of the ship, because the twists and turns of the inside would be challenging without them. Her troops were restricted when it came to weaponry as well. Almost everyone had a carbine, because assault rifles would be too unwieldy in such cramped spaces. The heavies had machine guns, but Selene wasn't sure how useful they would be in close combat. They couldn't use grenades, either for fear of damaging important machinery.
    Logan's squad made their way up the ropes, and their transport pulled away. Selene could see Bravo Wolf approaching from the east.
    “Raven 2, how does the deck look?” Selene asked.
    “As far as I can see, clear,” Blake responded.
    “Keep an eye out and cover Bravo Wolf,” she said. “I'm taking my platoon below decks.”
    “Copy that. I'll relay it to everyone as well.”
    “Thanks Blake.”
    “Don't mention it.”
    Selene opened up Alpha Wolf's channel. “OK guys, you know the entry points. Alpha 1 takes the bow, Alpha 2 takes the bridge and Alpha 3 takes the stern. Be aggressive, and don't destroy anything that we can't fix. Actually, don't destroy anything, if you can help it.”
    “Might be hard, in the middle of a battle,” Gavin commented.
    “Just try,” Selene said. “I'm sticking with Alpha 2 for the time being. Call if you need help, and I'll try to funnel reinforcements to you.”
    Alpha 2 pushed toward the bridge, stepping past dead enemy gunners and destroyed machine guns. The entrance to the bridge itself was locked up tight.
    “Can we destroy something?” Ethan asked.
    “Well, duh.”
    Ethan smiled. “OK, just asking.”
    They fitted shaped charges to the door, right where the locking mechanism sat. One good blast, and they would be able to shove the door open with a simple push.
    “Fire in the hole!” Ethan shouted, just before the charges went off. He kicked the door in and was the first inside.
    Selene gripped her carbine and plunged into the bowels of the ship.
     
     
     
    “That was fast,” Lex commented.
    “That's what we do,” Zach shrugged, trying to conceal his sheer glee. The plan was going far better than he could have anticipated.
    “They still have to take the ship,” Evy said.
    “Boy, you're a downer,” Lex said.
    “No, she's right,” Zach said. “That's going to be difficult. And we haven't pulled it off yet.”
    “We have Selene leading the charge,” Miko said. They could hear each other without radio equipment now that their craft had slowed.
    Zach laughed. “Right. They're dead meat over there.”
    “They've got to have some way to defend against boarders,” Evy said.
    Miko shrugged. “Against a few commandos, maybe. Against an entire commando platoon? How the heck do you defend against something like that with a crew that size?”
    “She's got a point,” Lex said.
    Evy took a deep breath. “OK, this is just making me nervous, that's all.”
    “Just think about how much ammo it can carry,” Zach said.
    He looked back over at the ship. They still had to take the thing, but for him, the worst part of the operation was over. In his opinion, the battle was pretty much over right now. It might take