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

by Douglas Howell

  If the view wasn’t bad enough, the calendar is just as equally as bad if not far worse. Starships have their own calendars, which are different than that of any particular moon and/or planet. Mars is a prime example. Mars’ year is two Earth years long. So how many months should it has? How many days in a month should there be? You can’t go by a Earth year on Mars. If you did, than your current date and time will be wrong. Martian year: 687 days long. Too long to be an Earth year, too short (by 43 days) to be two Earth years long. And as for the time? A Martian day is half-a-hour longer than a Earth day. So what would be consider a simple, practical solution? You got it. Don’t go by a Earth day and time. Which means it allows everyone to come up with their own calendar and clock. At least with starships they have only one type of a calendar and clock: exactly 24 hours per day, 35 days (five weeks) per month, and 12 months to a year. Total number of days per year: 420.

  Yes it is Saturday, but only by the Vegas star system standard. When Task Force ZH-3C’s mission starts on 17 October it is by Starship DTS (DTS - Date/Time Standard). But they left Roscadia on 23 August, Vegas DTS. But Golden Hyperion is three weeks away. What all of that means to Galactic Prime is that the crew’s biological clock is running on Starship DTS, while Task Force ZH-3C is not. What the crew of Galactic Prime calls the afternoon, Task Force ZH-3C calls 11 hours later. But that’s not the worse of it. Task Force ZH-3C ‘s members who are below the rank of Lieutenant (which there are thirty of them) are stationed in the crew quarters – dubbed the barracks by the Marines. The crew quarters are divided into sectors, and Task Force ZH-3C is surrounded (not literately) by Marines. The total number of Marines on Galactic Prime is 3,535. So how many is in the barracks? Too many by those Task Force members who are stationed there.

  With some of the Marines having a chip on their shoulders for their buddies dying on that EOD ship, combine with them getting on the nerves of those Task Force members stationed in the barracks, it is a recipe for disaster. Both Mad Dawg and Vaistll will be severely tested by their personnel. In time they will get to Golden Hyperion. But until they do, someone is going to have to defuse both sides before it explode and jeopardize the mission.

  (2)

  “Why in the fuck are you guys one hour fuckin’ late?” Ramirez asked some of his teammates.

  “Sir…” Master Chief Petty Officer Kim (Chinese) said.

  “I expected more from you Master Chief.” Ramirez said.

  “We’re sorry sir. It’s just that we couldn’t sleep because those Dog Pukes was keeping us awake with their music.” Kim said.

  “Sir we asked them to turn it down, but they wouldn’t listen.” Crewman Sanders (who’s black) said.

  Ramirez put his left hand over his face. They could see that he was under a lot of stress.

  “Understood. I’m going to have to talk to them. But each one of you NEED to make up for lost time with your training. Get it done.” Ramirez mentioned. As Ramirez left they started to grumble. Both Kim and Crewman First Class Weng (Chinese) said something in Chinese.

  Ramirez left and headed down to the barracks. He’s been on Galactic Prime for a few days and it seems almost like a daily ritual with him. The behavior of the Marines is disrupting the training of his teammates, and he has to discipline them for it. The stress of the past few days of doing that has finally caught up to him.

  “Private Esterline. I should have known. You always seem to have a bad habit of irritating my people. And I’m getting sick and tired of it.” Ramirez said.

  Ramirez is right. Private Esterline is either getting on the nerves of Ramirez’s teammates, or it seems that he is trying to pick a fight with them. If it’s not one thing with him, than it’s another. Esterline’s behavior is partly to blame for Ramirez’s stress.

  A couple of days before, Ramirez was complaining to Mad Dawg about the attitudes of his personnel. Mad Dawg written it all off. He said, ‘Aw. My crew is like a shark that smells blood. And they smelled it.’ Looking at Esterline, told Ramirez what Mad Dawg meant: the Marines want blood. Not to ferry Task Force ZH-3C to some place, and then to watch them kick some ass.

  As Ramirez was leaving, and walking down the corridor, he heard a commotion going on back in the barracks between Private Esterline and two of Ramirez teammates: Crewman Bernstein (Israeli) and Crewman Robinson (British). The argument sounded like it was on the verge of fisticuffs. Ramirez, with his stress levels rising, stormed back into the barracks.

  Ramirez went in and chewed them out. He was pissed off. He was not interested in justice. He wanted silence. Private Esterline was complaining that he was trying to get some sleep (it was 23:00 Starship DTS), and both Bernstein and Robinson were playing their music too loudly. As Ramirez started to chew one out, another one would say something than another. Ramirez had to chew each one out. Out of stress and anger, Ramirez put both Bernstein and Robinson on double duty. Ramirez than left and headed back to his quarters for lunch. He went there for some peace and quiet.

  While Ramirez was eating his lunch someone rang his doorbell. Ramirez had a mouth full of food. He tried to chew faster, but the person rang the bell again, twice. When Ramirez was finished chewing his food, he had to drink something to wash the rest down. While he was drinking, the person rang his bell again. Ramirez, upset and annoyed, got up, went to the door, pushed a button opening the door, and yelled ‘What.’ He then saw that it was Vaistll.

  “Oh geez… I’m so sorry ma’am. I didn’t know it was you. It’s just that I’ve been under a lot of stress and…” Ramirez nervously said.

  “We all are under a lot of stress. I just came here to give you the duty roster for tomorrow.” She said.

  “Hey ma’am. I’ve just thought of a really good name for our mission on Golden Hyperion: boat load of obscenities. I figure that it applies to this ship… since that’s all we seem to do.” Ramirez said. She didn’t say anything, she just left.

  (3)

  In the morning of the next day, Vaistll went to the bridge to talk to Mad Dawg. She was trying to lesson the stress on everyone. When she got to the bridge, everyone looked at her as if though she didn’t belong there. She approach Mad Dawg who was eating his breakfast at the Captain’s chair. When she got to him, he was sipping on his cup of coffee.

  “Mad Dawg we need to talk.” She said.

  “What’s on your mind?”

  “We need to seriously alleviate the stress on everyone. Why don’t we station your officers in the barracks?”

  “Now hold on a minute. You mean you want MY officers to give up their quarters for YOUR people? Out of the question. What you need to do is to have YOUR people sleep when my crew does. Problem solved.”

  “We already tried that back when we first left Roscadia and it didn’t work because YOUR boys…!”

  “My boys?” Mad Dawg said with a smile.

  “And your girls. You know what I meant when I said your ‘boys.’ Like I was trying to say, your crew kept my team awake and that’s why it didn’t work. My team and I need to get ready for our mission on Golden Hyperion. Which means… we need our sleep… and we need OUR TRAINING!” The stress was catching up with Vaistll. You could hear it in her voice when she said that.

  “Why are you yelling at me like I’m in some galaxy far away? I’m right here, no need to shout.” Mad Dawg said which only irritated her.

  “You’re pissed off because of what that infiltrator did to your ship. Aren’t you? What… mad because he got away? You know… it’s still up to me to decide whether or not to let you and your crew fight the EOD on Golden Hyperion.” She said in a calm manner. Mad Dawg wasn’t fazed one bit by what she just said.

  “Say what you will girl. This is MY ship. And I’m not ordering MY officers to give up their quarters for YOUR people.”

  “Then can’t you tell your crew to keep it down so that my people can get some sleep? My crew is tired and exhausted from their training. They need the rest.”

  Mad Dawg then turned to his second-in-co
mmand and said. “See… this is what happens when you let women run things. They start to mother their people.”

  “You sexist pig!” Vaistll snapped back.

  “Their boys… err girls… start to act like a bunch of pusses. You know… captain… when you are in the combat zone, sometimes it takes a couple of days to sleep. Sometimes you only get four hours of sleep.” Mad Dawg said which only pissed off Vaistll.

  “My crew is fuckin’ exhausted from their training! And because… YOUR people is keeping them awake… MY crew has to make up for the lost time! Some of them has to pull double duty!” Vaistll yelled back.

  “My ship. My crew. My rules. You know… I’m letting YOUR people discipline my crew when they misbehave.”

  “Then why don’t YOU help by confiscating their RADIOS!? Then my crew can get some sleep.”

  “Why don’t your people do that?” Mad Dawg said in a calm manner. He remained calm throughout the conversion with her.

  “Because you never gave them the authority to do that!”

  “Maybe I would have if you asked nicely. But you and your people acted like this is your ship by never asking for permission in the beginning.”

  “We shouldn’t have to ask for it!”

  “My ship my rules. Is that all?”

  With that Vaistll left and headed down to the VR Training Room. She went there because she wanted to left off some steam. Ramirez always wanted to see her when she gets that angry. Now is his chance. But he won’t get the chance to see it. Even if he did see her, he wouldn’t care. There’s too much stress going around on that ship.

  Mad Dawg never said anything about why they didn’t change their sleeping habits back on Roscadia. There is a three hour difference between the Vegas DTS and where Task Force ZH-3C came from. Not that many of Mad Dawg’s crew got the chance to enjoy their shore leave. They needed it. They already were stressed out from their duties. When Double Shock stole that EOD Ultra Class ship on Thursday, it only added to the stress.

  Mad Dawg is acting just like his crew, they can’t believe that 35 people can take on the EOD forces on Golden Hyperion. They still remember what happened to them when they were sent to defend that laboratory. Mad Dawg had at least a hundred times more people at his disposal than she does. Look at what they had to go through just to protect that laboratory. When Double Shock did all that he did on that Thursday it was yet another painful reminder to the crew of Galactic Prime. Double Shock deeply injured their pride and now they wanted blood – EOD blood.

  When Vaistll got to the VR Training Room her crew thought that they were in deep trouble. Some of them pulled the visor up on the VR helmet of their buddy and pointed to her. Nobody said anything. When she noticed them, she told them that she wasn’t mad at them. She mentioned that she came there to let off some steam. Warrant Officer (Type Engineering) Cole (Canadian) mentioned that each one of them came there for the exact same reason. She then put on a VR suit, hooked herself up to the VR gyroscope and put on her helmet.

  “What the fuck?” She said when she pulled down the visor and noticed how poor the graphics are.

  “God! These graphics look like they’re from the mid-21st century.” She said.

  “Ma’am… when that EOD ship knock out the sensors, the engineers had to take out the VR video graphics card in order to repair the sensors.” Crewman Hoffneisten said.

  “Fine. Load the… um… defend the fort in a forest. I want you guys to defend it and I’ll come to you.” She said in a disappointed manner.

  “Yes ma’am.” Ensign Liebowitz said.

  “Why in the flying fuck is it taking so long to load this piece of shit?” She said out of frustration.

  “Ma’am, the memory for this particular type of VR video graphics card IS a piece of shit.” Crewman First Class Nguyen (Vietnamese) said.

  Vaistll held the VR gyroscope with her right hand, put her face on her right arm, and then started to laugh out of frustration.

  “Fine. Add a city between us, with a river that I have to cross. I also want you to add a regiment in the city as well.” She said with the look of one who is tired from stress.

  “Ma’am. Are you sure? That would take like… 10-15 minutes for it to load.” Ensign Liebowitz said.

  “Yes. Waiting for it will help me calm down. You know… I think Ramirez is right. Maybe we should rename our mission to Golden Hyperion, ‘boat load of obscenities’.”

  (4)

  Roughly one week after they left Roscadia, Galactic Prime got a distress call from a freighter. The person who sent the message mentioned that, ‘strange creatures,’ and ‘the crew is rebelling for some unknown reason.’ Because Galactic Prime is on silent run, and because a freighter sent the message, no one on Galactic Prime took it that seriously. If they did, they might have discover what Mynik’ny’nuta did to the crew of the freighter. Once Galactic Prime discover what IS on that ship they would have destroyed the ship and thus, the Tylkuoply hive would have been destroyed. But sadly, it is not to be. The person who sent the message never raised any red flags.

  What nobody on Galactic Prime knows is that the freighter is connected to the fate of Dr. Verrone, Tech Specialist Torrio and a few scientists from New Horizon. Double Shock ghost hack Starbase 231 and changed the departure times for the ships dock there. He did it because he knew that would be the way that Mynik’ny’nuta would leave. Double Shock knew two things about the Tylkuoply hive: one; the symbiote can only go so far in providing rational thought to the person when they are insane, and two; the Tylkuoply hive goes after the strong, not the weak. The Vegas star system is just too weak for the taste of the hive.

  When Double Shock ghost hack Starbase 231 computers he was looking for the right ship. Preferably a civilian ship on a long voyage. He also made it difficult for the hive to spread throughout the ship. Double Shock gave the crew the knowledge that there would be a ship traveling, roughly in the same direction as they were. He was hoping that the freighter might be intercepted by Galactic Prime and be destroyed. But what made that ship perfect was it’s destination – a small moon near the Necro-Mystics border. In effect, Double Shock unleashed the Tylkuoply hive upon the Necro-Mystics. Evil vs. evil. He gave the human race a chance at survival.

  But as for Dr. Verrone, Tech Specialist Torrio and those scientists, Double Shock had them (through a ghost hack) go to the EOD ship because he needed them. He picked Dr. Verrone and Tech Specialist Torrio because of their expertise. The huge plus for him came in knowing that both of them knew of the Tylkuoply hive. Double Shock never needed that laser rifle… they are quite enthusiastic in helping him. They saw the huge potential in that symbiote.

  Before Galactic Prime gets to Golden Hyperion, Dr. Verrone and those scientist, would do what other people, who encounter the Tylkuoply hive, would have thought the impossible: to be able to extract the symbiote from someone without killing them or the symbiote. In due time, the Hau’rino royal family and 3.11 million people would be brought back. But not in the same way as Double Shock was. Dr. Verrone, Tech Specialist Torrio and those scientists from New Horizon, will live the rest of their lives under the Hau’rino Empire. Emperor Zeno’y’lk will reward them quite well.

  (5)

  Chief Warrant Officer, Third Class (Type Engineering) Chu (Chinese), Ramirez and Sanchez were talking about Chu’s plan to end, or at least to reduce the stress on board. Chu’s plan basically involved bribing the Marines to stay quiet. Sanchez objected because she knew that it would only make matters worse. Ramirez disagreed. Not because she’s right, but because he wanted peace and quiet.

  Chu’s plan did brought momentarily peace over the next few days on Galactic Prime. Task Force ZH-3C was finally able to get on with their training and their much needed rest. Some of them were able to readjust their sleeping habits to that of the Marines. It started to appear as if everybody’s stress level would abate for the reminder of the trip.

  As it turned out, Sanchez was right. Private Esterline and some of his bu
ddies got drunk off of his moonshine. They then went to the VR Training Room (nobody was there), reprogrammed it for some ‘leisure activities,’ and caused the computers to crash. The engineers said that it would take four days to get them up and running again.

  Mad Dawg was pissed off when he found out. He had Private Esterline and his buddies, thrown into the brig. For the first time since they left, Mad Dawg discipline his crew. He promptly put a stop to the bribery of his crew and chewed out Ramirez for agreeing to allow it to happen. Mad Dawg came very close to throwing Ramirez into the brig.

  As Task Force ZH-3C was waiting for the VR Training Simulation to be repaired, they took the time resting and trying to alleviating their stress. But the delay, the poor slow memory of the VR Training Simulation, increased the probability that Task Force ZH-3C mission on Golden Hyperion will fail. Although they had one week to go, it was about to get worse.

  Fuming about being thrown into the brig and having his moonshine taking away, Private Esterline was looking for a fight. He spent the next two days making more moonshine. When Private Esterline was done making the moonshine, he got fifteen of his buddies to come over and they got drunk. They went over to where Task Force ZH-3C was eating their lunch and started a fight with them. The brawl intensify when the MP’s came in. Private Esterline, his buddies and most of Task Force ZH-3C was thrown into the brig. Mad Dawg told Private Esterline that if he messes up just one more time, he will be dishonorably discharge. Mad Dawg did reduced Task Force ZH-3C time by one day. That only gave Task Force ZH-3C four days to complete their training.

  Both the Marines and Task Force ZH-3C is doing something that is incredibly dangerous. They keep on getting on each other nerves and they are fixing to go into a kill zone. Because Task Force ZH-3C has only four days to complete their training, it is going to leave them bitter. It is they who will have to go into that kill zone and face certain death. And what are the Marines doing? Making it difficult for them to go through their proper training