The Cross of Mithras Vol. 1: EOD Operation Welcome to Hell

by Douglas Howell

  Is she a woman with a death wish? In all likelihood she doesn’t have one. Nor did she ever have one. Maybe she’s being stupid. Not Sanchez, she is a smart woman. It’s not like her to do something stupid like that. But it strongly illustrated the point about her. That she uses what Vaistll called “Convenient Deniability” to explain why she does things like that knowing full well it could get herself killed as well as others. It is also the fact that she doesn’t think about the consequences of her actions, and then she writes them off as nothing.

  Convenient Deniability is where a person (without any ulterior motives) sincerely believes in something (besides religion) that most people would consider flawed, and/or wrong. In an effort to defend what they believe in, they either directly or indirectly, put themselves into a situation that is convenient, or has a convenient outcome for them. Such as, using technology (that they created) to support their belief and the device seems to support it. Or they belief in something that can neither be proven nor disprove. When confronted with the truth (in the form of facts) that seems to contradict their belief, they than deny the truth.

  Sanchez desires to avenge what happen to her husband. But that action blinds her to those who need her the most. Like her children or those under her command. She has become obsessed with hurting those who hurt her. She doesn’t mean to hurt those who she should care about. It’s just something that happens. And yet the very people that she wants to hurt are those with evil intentions. Not those who she should care about.

  Sanchez’s action does more than just blind her to those whom she hurts. It also impairs her ability to think more clearly. As an officer it can cause her to unintentionally cause the death of those under her command. It can cause her to do stupid things, like driving in that part of town. All it takes is for her to take a wrong turn, or her car to break down, and then you never know. Choy may want revenge too, but even he is not that crazy.

  It would have been best for Task Force ZH-3C if Sanchez never joined them or Project 21 for that matter. But she did and now they are stuck with her. The sad thing about her is that she was once a delight to be around with, but not anymore. Nice, caring, sweet, and even considerate, was the way she was before her husband became an EOD guinea pig. And now she is just an uber bitch who gets on everybody nerves.

  It wouldn’t be so bad if Commander Taylor wasn’t one of those types of an officer who ignore his own safety just to keep those under his command alive. It’s just a matter of time before he gets himself killed. That leaves Vaistll and Ramirez who outranks her if Taylor did died. Vaistll is the type who if it would help in achieving the mission, she would take off leaving everybody behind. She does that only because she’s good at it and because of her training back on her planet. The problem with Lieutenant Hayes is that he is the same rank as she is. Everybody under him may like him, but he is not a good combat officer. Sanchez is. She is the type of an officer who remains calm and makes better decisions in extreme combat situations. And as for Ramirez? As a former EOD agent he is mark for death. This is especially true since he was in their Special Forces.

  It would have been in both Project 21 and Task Force ZH-3C best interest if Sanchez never joined them. Both Sanchez and Vaistll have been known to go at it at times, arguing over this or that. Sanchez isn’t questioning Vaistll’s authority; it’s just that both of them don’t get along. Nobody likes Sanchez; she can’t get along with anybody. And yet it is Vaistll who comes to her rescue saying that, “Divine providence had decided that she should be with us. So, all of you should put your fate into the hands of God and accept his higher reason.”

  If Project 21 knew what waited for them on Golden Hyperion, what the big mystery is all about, they NEVER would have let Sanchez go with Task Force ZH-3C. But then again if they did knew, they, like Sanchez, would develop Convenient Deniability as they are paralyzed with indecision in not knowing what to do.

  (9)

  It was 16:38 hours, both Vaistll and Ramirez just got back to her room at the Roosevelt. They spent part of the day shopping for souvenirs. They catch a movie, eat lunch, and trying to enjoy what little time that they will spend on Roscadia. They were having a good time until they learned what Sanchez did. After that everything went downhill. They went from having a good time, to both having their day ruined, and being furious with her. Both of them were so furious with Sanchez that they strongly considered having her court-martial. The only reason why they didn’t was because of how important their mission was. They didn’t want to go through a court-martial proceeding before their mission.

  What both of them learned was that Sanchez tried to hire the mafia to go after the EOD. Then to have them try their best to find out what happened to her husband. At first the mafia thought that she was joking. But when they realized that she was being serious, they decided to mess with her head before they told her to piss off. The mafia wasn’t stupid. They know what would happen to them it they try to take on the EOD.

  Sanchez drove through a very dangerous part of town just to see the mafia. She wanted to strike some type of deal with them and was turned down. There was absolutely nothing that she could offer them to get them to change their minds. Sanchez was willing to throw everything away. For whom, for what - revenge? Yes, she will. Lucky for her, both Vaistll and Ramirez (without her knowing it) gave her just one more chance.

  Both Vaistll and Ramirez were sitting down upon the couch thinking about what Sanchez did. After awhile, Ramirez spoke, “Why don’t you tell me more about your past upon your planet? I mean... you don’t have to mention any of the bad things that you went through. I’ll understand. I was just thinking that you could mention something, anything... like maybe you could mention what your planet was like. That way neither one of us has to think about that bullshit that Sanchez pulled.”

  “Alright.” Vaistll thought for a few moments than said, “Since I did extensive traveling all over the continent that I was born upon, I have a fairly good idea about the basics about it. A rough guess about how large it is. Any land masses, or continents, near it. Bodies of water on, or near it. The different types of environment. And the people, tribes, languages, and civilizations that existed upon it.

  The name of my birth continent is: Iraxxan. When I was between ten to twelve years old I could have told you what that meant, but I forgot it. It might have meant something like Ice Lords, or something else that deals with ice. I guess it had something to do with the fact that there was once an ice age on my planet. And the people of Iraxxan remembered it.

  I did travel upon the nearby continents, but not that much. What I learned was that civilizations existed closer to Iraxxan. It becomes more tribal as you travel further away from it. The knowledge about those continents, which comes from my people’s Great Library, is inconclusive. That knowledge exists mostly in the form of myths. What’s more, those myths tend to contradict, rather than support each other. I do, and I don’t, remember those myths.

  To the east of Iraxxan was the ‘Sea of Fire.’ It was called that because there was a lot of earthquakes and volcanic activity surrounding it. ‘Only monsters, ghouls, and wicked goblins, and all other sorts of evil vices and temptations come from the Sea of Fire. For what lies beyond it... is the birthplace of hell.’ So goes the saying about it.

  Actually... the Sea of Fire was probably an ocean. It had to have been either the same size as the North Atlantic, or the South Atlantic ocean. I don’t know if Iraxxan, and the continent to the east, was connected in the arctic region, but it wasn’t connected in the southern part. The Sea of Fire was longer running north to south, than east to west. The southern part was slightly wider than the northern part. It had a string of small islands going north to south. Surrounding the sea are tales of the god of that sea, who got angry with the people one day... so he threw the sea at them. And that’s all that I know about the myths about that god.

  To the east of the Sea of Fire was the continent, Xiy’o’tlo (zee-eye o toe-low), which was of unknow
n size. There were many different meanings of Xiy’o’tlo on Iraxxan; mostly it was death, or hell. In the northwestern part of Xiy’o’tlo is the Land of Fire. Basically it was a geological hot spot like that of Hawaii. To the southeast of that is a region that must have been a lake at some point in history. What little water there was, in that valley, is poisonous. The place was hot like that of Death Valley, and to be in it... it was like going to another planet. In the eastern part there were caves with what look like dinosaur bones in them. If the wind blew just right in the caves, it sounded like ghosts. I guess you can imagine why people would call the place, ‘The Gates of Hell.’ Especially since there were white noxious fumes that came up from the ground at certain parts of the region.”

  “Have you been there, to Xiy’o’tlo?”

  “Yes I have. Spent five years there. And I’m glad that is all the time that I spent there, since that continent really gave me the creeps. You know the story about the Noble Warriors?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well... the Castle of the Damned is on one of the islands in the southern part of Xiy’o’tlo. Near one of those caves in the Gates of Hell region, is the remains of an abandoned village. The cave that is closest to it was converted into a temple. The people who founded that village were refugees from the island of the Castle of the Damned. That village is the birthplace of Natas Ovast.” Ramirez was quite surprised to hear that.

  “I was with a team at the time, and while we where searching for Natas birthplace, something strange happened to us. It was something that, at the time, seemed supernatural to us. When I got to the Earth, and I was watching some TV program, I realize that it was nothing more other than some weird force of nature. That place, like this one spot in Death Valley has boulders that actually move by themselves. A scientist in that TV program explained how that could be, but I long since forgot about it.

  To the west, and south, of that valley is a desert like that of the American southwest. East of all of that is a forest like that of British Columbia. That might explain our saying of, ‘One must go through the Gates of Hell... in order to find true hope and salvation. Then, and only then, can you enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.’ I do not know what lies beyond that.

  In the southeast of Iraxxan there is an archipelago like that of the Philippine Islands, but twice the length running north to south. They ran diagonally with the southern part being further east. Also in the southeast of Iraxxan there is a peninsula roughly the same size as Florida. The difference between the two is that its southern part was further west. One of the islands in the archipelago was very close to the mid-part of the peninsula. It had to been at least ten miles from it. On the peninsula, maybe twenty to twenty five miles south of that point, is a natural harbor. And that’s where Natas’ palace was. To give you an idea of the distance between Natas’ palace and Iomiyya, it would be the equivalent of the distance between Athens, Greece to Marseilles, France.

  To the west of Iomiyya, on the southwestern part of Iraxxan, is a large group of a chain of islands. If you where to take Japan, Korea, and the Russian mainland around the Sea of Japan, and then invert the direction, you would then get a rough idea of what that part of Iraxxan looks like. I have no idea of what lies to the west of that.

  In the northern part of Iraxxan there is a group of lakes like that of the Great Lakes of the United States. I think there are seven lakes. Either that or I saw one of the lakes at least twice and didn’t realize it. North of those lakes there is an arctic island roughly the size of Greenland. It could have been part of a peninsula, or it might have been a part of a landmass that on one side had a very large lake like a bay, and on the other side it bordered an ocean.

  I once had a mission on that island tracking down a man who committed; not only regicide, but he also stole the crown jewels. He then had the fuckin’ nerve to flee to that god forsaken island. Why in the known universe should he flee there? Out of all the places that he could have went, why would he go there? I’m like anybody else born around Mediterranean Sea; used to hot summers, not 40-plus below weather.

  So there I was, lost, starving, with the locals being little help whatsoever. Feeling the cold icy grip of the artic gripping me ever the more tighter and deeper, to where I could feel it deep within. Searching for that damn asshole who just had to go there. Oh well... what’s done is done.”

  “Did you find him? And how long did it take?”

  “Yeah... I found him all right... frozen to death. It took me like two to three months just to do it. I spent the rest of my time there just trying to find my way back to civilization further south.”

  “So how long did it take for you to get back?”

  “Five years.”

  “Damn! That’s really fucked up!”

  “No shit. All because of that fucking asshole and all of those people. You wouldn’t believe how many times I came close to dying there.”

  “I can image.”

  “Well... like I said... what’s done is done. To the south of Iraxxan and Xiy’o’tlo is the continent Yynol’bkko (e-no baa-ko). I don’t know how large it was. There was just too many conflicting opinions about it size. But they all agreed about its type of environment; it was like that of Australia. But not as flat.”

  Vaistll paused for awhile because she really didn’t want to mention the next part. Ramirez knew that, but he knew her well enough to know that she was fixing to mention it. So he didn’t say anything about it.

  After she’d prepared herself to mention it, she continued on. “I’ve been to Yynol’bkko only once. It was the same continent that I... that I... was on when I had to go on my... long march home. By the time that I got back to Natas’ palace I had to have traveled at least... four or five thousand miles.”

  “Holy shit! How long did it take for you to get back? Why did you go back to his palace if he’d put you through so much?”

  “It took me about as long as my body would permit. I just kept on going. Pushing my body to the breaking point. I just wanted to hurry up and get back. But you know... I have no idea why I went back to his palace. I guess it had something to do with the fact that I didn’t know that continent that well, or the surrounding continents. .And I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life on a continent where a whole bunch tribal people wanted me dead. I just wanted to get back to the continent that I was born upon. And his palace was the closest, so called ‘friendly’ place that I knew of.”

  With bad memories coming back to haunt her, memories that is too painful for her to talk about, making her feel much more worst as time goes on, and seeing this and knowing from his own experience how she feels, Ramirez put his arm around her to comfort her. With soothing words of compassion he said, “It’s okay Vaistll... you don’t have to continue on. I’ll understand.”

  After several moments Vaistll said, “I feel better now. Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Growing up... I was always a handful to my parents. Too much spunk I guess. I drove my mom Nincylste crazy because of it. She really shouldn’t complain since I took after her. We were always close, and I was the only one of my siblings who was like that. And yet, I was the one who drove her crazy. She really loved my dad a great deal. And yet it always bothered her in knowing she couldn’t give him any children. Since I got my temperament from my dad, I was Nincylste favorite. I guess in some way she saw me as her birth child because I took after her and my dad.

  I had seven siblings. Three of them died before they reached the age of five.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “Well... that’s what life was like in an ancient society. Death happens. We weren’t poor, more like upper middle-class, but if we were, and my three siblings lived, they would have had a tough life. Life in an ancient society is full crap you know.”

  “Yeah I can imagine.”

  “I had three brothers and one sister who survived into adulthood. I was close to my siblings, along with my dad and my mom Unatoos. My
sister was an fllustl, and like me, she never got married. She worked in the palace as a translator and as a diplomat. So she never really got the chance to find somebody. You know, I don’t think that she even cared.”

  “Why?”

  “She was really good at reading people. So much so that if she was on Earth, people might think that she has telepathy, or something. Which is not true, but it would give you an idea of how good she was. And because of that... she could tell that all the men around her were either a nogoodnik, or, she never would have been able to fall in love with them.”

  Vaistll had the look of that she can relate to that, and wished that she had that ability as well. She then continued on, “One of my brothers also worked in the palace as well. He took after my dad. But the big difference is, he was smarter, more skilled, more... Well... I guess you could call him a scientist or something like that. Of course he made more money than my dad, and my dad never cared. He was really proud of him. We all were. My brother was well known all over and his skill was highly prized.”

  “What was his name?”

  “Well before I forget. My sister’s name is, Iakuoyr. Oddly enough, if you reversed it, and put ninmu in front of it, you get ninmu ryoukai. Even stranger than that; one of my brothers, who was a tracker, name is, Okuoyk. And if you reversed it, you get kyouko.”

  “Wow that is strange.”

  “I don’t know of any other Apollinarian names like that. The reverse word of some human language. But since I don’t speak multiple human languages, there could be more, but I doubt it. My brother who worked in the palace his name is, Ikknustll (ik-noose- stall-la). He never got married either. Neither did my other two brothers.”

  “Why?”

  “With Ikknustll he was just too busy to find anybody. What’s more, he had to travel around a lot. With Okuoyk and Ryyuoxx (re-o-ks) they were trackers, the type that track down criminals and those with a price on their heads. Knowing both of them, and with them traveling all over Iraxxan, they were probably more interested in woman, than marriage. Both of them had a lot of charm and charisma, so I can imagine why that in all likelihood, they probably left a lot of broken hearts all over Iraxxan. They would have put you in mind of Martinez. Both of them, myself, Ikknustll and Iakuoyr were pretty damn good singers. Our parents used to...”