“You are aware that it does have torpedoes on board?”
“I never heard that before, so no.”
“It has three. All low yield. Each has a 10 kiloton warhead. But they can only be fired upward not downward. Which means that we have no other way to use them other than. . .”
“Wait! Why not just land and let someone take them out?”
“I already thought about that. Captain Peterson along with Wilcox said that it wouldn’t work because of the safety measure incorporated into each one. Each one would have been automatically disarmed if we attempted it. And then they would need to have been taken back to the factory that produced them. But there is another way to use them. . . but it’s risky.”
“How risky?” Vaistll asked feeling a little heartbroken.
“Me and Viper could theoretically die.”
“What do you mean ‘theoretically’?”
“I could easily program the Dominator on a flight path. Viper could program when the torpedoes detonate. It does have an escape pod. But there is a catch.”
“What sort of a catch?”
“Although we still have limited control over the Dominator after we eject, it is not for long. But that shouldn’t be the real problem that we will face.”
“So what will?”
“This Dominator is old. It’s been setting in a hangar for maybe fifty years. We think that there could be some sort of critters living in it. Look, let me put it to you simply—it’s a flying rust bucket. Even if the escape pod works there is still two problems. At one point it’s thrusters will fire in order to get the two of us as far away from the explosion as fast as possible. And then it will eject us and hopefully we will be able to parachute down to safety. So you tell me how many things could go wrong?”
“So you are thinking about flying it near the Golem and then detonate the torpedoes?” Vaistll said with a very heavy heart.
“Maybe.”
“I’ll miss you so very much.”
“You’ll get over it.”
“Please I want the two of you to live.”
“Why? We can’t breed. We’re the last of our kind.”
“If not for hope. . . than do it for. . . me.”
“Goodbye my friend. It’s been nice knowing you.” Jaguar 42R responded.
“No.” Vaistll cried when he said it.
The team then watched as the Dominator flew at the Golem at top speed. Vaistll then turned and looked away not wanted to see the end of them. In some small way she has hope that maybe, just maybe, someone would be able to use their genetic material to turn them into a true race. But alas, she knew that would never occur. All Skotadian clones has a fail safe mechanism that stops that from ever occurring.
“Ma’am. . . look! They ejected!” Ellis nearly shouted out.
Vaistll watched as the escape pod left the Dominator (it was already a long way away from it), and then she saw it’s thrusters fired. But there was a blinding light where the Golem once was. She then had to wait for her helmet to allow her to see again after the nuclear detonation. When she was able to see once more she saw that their parachutes did in fact opened and they were slowly coming down into the water. She was overcome with joy.
“They did it! Oh my god they did it! They killed the Golem!” Coté shouted out. Everybody looked and couldn’t believe it. It was finally over. . . for everyone upon that world.
“You ejected. Why?” Vaistll asked both Jaguar 42R and Viper 33X. When they got near enough to be pick up out of the water.
“Both of us kept on struggling over which plan to use. . . but it always kept on coming back to one.” Jaguar 42R stated as he was being pulled into the dropship.
“We chose you. Or rather your team. You gave us hope.” Viper 33X stated when he got in. It caused all of Task Force ZH-3C to cry when they heard that.
“Other than that, why us?” Ellis asked through tears.
“Because you made it this far. So we said. . . why not?” Viper 33X responded.
All of Golden Hyperion, the whole of the human race, was celebrating! The most evil institution that the human race ever created was defeated! Multiple times over no doubt! And what made it all possible was the fact that they could never conquer the human heart and soul! Task Force ZH-3C decided to head back to Fort Conti to meet up with their old friend Mad Dawg. They also made certain that all the surviving Marines was there. They spent their time there enjoying each other’s company and thanking the gods that it was all over. Or was it? Infernus was still out there. But at least the so-call loser team can prove that hope will always triumph over despair. So maybe there’s hope after all.
(15)
Ramirez will eventually marry Maria and settle down. Coté will reunite with her father and make him so very proud of her. Vaistll will live the rest of her life upon her people’s new home world. Taylor will eventually be promoted to Rear Admiral (Lower) before he goes into retirement. Nakada will become the captain of a ship. Wexler will try his best at the greening of Mars so that the Earth can be “saved.” Ellis will try his best to restore the Earth back to it’s old self of life. Martinez will team up with Jaguar and Viper as bounty hunters and the three of them will become quite formidable. And both Mad Dawg and his best friend McIntyre will set up a business together. As for Project 21? The courage and the sacrifice of Task Force ZH-3C, Mad Dawg, and McIntyre, made Project 21 a force to be reckoned with. As for Skotadi? They had a major civil war to deal with. And Dark Core had Infernus to deal with. No one will ever forget this loser team for they gave hope to the human race.
* * *
[1] Humans always had a fad in which they would modify themselves to look like something else. Dark Core took it to a whole new level by becoming both an android and their favorite “creature.”
[2] Meaning: they were too confused about what its functions are.
[3] For some unknown reason the Dark Id cannot support more than twelve of these towers.
[4] Parker had to use a security hologram emitter. It stored all items on file but it could not leave the room.
[5] She was spying for someone.
[6] Vaughan would have been given a new assignment.
[7] Nor did they fully understand the Dark Id.
[8] Junkers are either a ship that is hastily put together, or one that is made from large sections of other ships.
[9] Project 21 could only guess at its top speed. They were off by no less than 23% and no more than 33%.
[10] Maria never saw the movie so she never got Omori’s indirect references to it.
[11] Killed In Action
[12] He traveled in a diagonal route with his gun pointed at the outpost.
[13] He was using an EMP bullet.
[14] He meant mental as oppose to physical rest.
[15] The laboratory had warehouse robots that could move the equipment.
[16] Had Parker seek out psychiatric help he would have been given a new assignment before the Necro-Mystics came.
[17] Japanese for thank you.
[18] Japanese for your welcome.
[19] The facility will never be brought back on-line again.
[20] They were on a dropship heading down to the surface.
[21] They were at the entrance to the so-call bridge.
[22] Pronounced sī-oos.
[23] The Skotadian military only started to use it on Valkyrie. Which is why only the infantry has it.
[24] It is the highest Threat Level and it means that the ship is now in a critical state.
[25] The irony is that she indirectly came up with that term during a drunken tirade back on Valkyrie. She was berating computer programmers in front of a business man who later became Dark Serpent.
[26] Estimated time of departure.
[27] Japanese for I’m sorry.
[28] He was the only one who believe that they would. The other three were highly skeptical.
[29] On Valkyrie he was a close friend to both Lenkov and Omori.
[30] The
VERM agents were all that was left on Golden Hyperion.
[31] Both Nakada and Caparzo was placed into Blue Team.
[32] Manko is a Japanese swear word for cunt. Considered very offensive in Japan.
[33] The real color is celestial blue with a tinge of ghost white.
[34] Efiáltis is Greek for nightmare.
[35] RTF stands for Robotic Tactical Fleet.
[36] With the help of Michael Christianson, Infernus could “move” his consciousness in or out of Captain Levine’s body.
[37] Not true about Omori being poker face. She tries to put duty before emotion and that can cause her to appear like she’s poker face.
2288: The Skotadian Experiment Page 43
