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

by Douglas Howell

“Left and right flank sir.”

  “What about the third tank?”

  “One moment sir.” The driver said as he asked the tank driver. “He’d managed to punch a hole in the outer defenses and is waiting further orders, sir.”

  “How big is it?”

  “One moment sir.” The driver said as he asked the tank driver. “Just big enough to allow three APCs to go through side-by-side.”

  “Good. Have half of our APCs to go through it with the tank leading the way. Have our Heavy APCs to attack both left and right flank. Have the rest of our APCs to wait until the Heavy APCs bust a hole in the outer defenses, and then with the Heavy APCs leading the way, have our APCs go in.” Captain Dawson ordered his driver.

  “Yes sir.”

  Captain Dawson may have studied Lenkov’s infamous defenses, but not all of them. The rebels on Valkyrie did not have high-tech weaponry but they did have a much larger number of fighters. So Lenkov put emphasis on EOD high-tech weaponry. Lenkov knew that history dictated that a enemy with superior numbers could be overcome with high-tech weaponry. The enemy must therefore default to using ingenuity to defeat the high-tech weaponry as well as using the terrain against the enemy. Lenkov master that tactic on Valkyrie. Using EOD high-tech weaponry when the rebels didn’t have any high-tech weaponry, and using ingenuity and knowing the terrain when the rebels captured EOD high-tech weaponry. Lenkov knew how to balance the usage of the two tactics. Dawson never studied Lenkov less famous battles where he used ingenuity to overcome captured EOD high-tech weaponry. If he did, then he would realize why he needs airpower.

  Captain Dawson once heard Lenkov say something and though nothing of it. By the end of the day Dawson would finally understand what he meant, but it would be too late for him. All Lenkov said was, “Those who do not listen to their enemy, will fall by their enemy sword.” Dawson also heard Lenkov say, “Those who know everything about their enemy, is the enemy.” Because Dawson didn’t understand what Lenkov meant he dismissed it and never gave it much thought. The first quote meant that those who do not learn from their enemy, will make the mistakes of their enemy. Dawson does not realize that he is fixing to make the mistake of the rebels on Valkyrie – putting full faith and credit into high-tech weaponry without truly understanding the enemy. The second quote meant that no one can ever know everything about one’s enemy, so it becomes critical to fill in what one does not know with as much as possible. Yet another mistake of Dawson.

  Captain Dawson, however, did hear Lenkov say two things that Dawson understood quite well and it convinced him that one day Lenkov and Omori would one day betray the EOD. “No nation can survive when men of conscious rebel against it,” and “The surest pathway to defeat your enemy is to be the enemy.” What Dawson didn’t realize is that if he’d asked for further explanation Lenkov would have told him that those, like himself, who are ruthless, are not considered “men of conscious.” And the second quote? Did it ever occur to Dawson that neither Lenkov nor Omori considered the EOD to be their enemy at first? Apparently not. But by assuming that both of them were a potential traitor to the EOD, Dawson spent most of his time looking for any acts of treason, not upon studying Lenkov’s tactics. If he did the outcome on Golden Hyperion could have turned out differently.

  The Heavy APCs on the left flank had no trouble in getting through the outer defenses. They were able to eliminate the outer auto-guns and then pushed into the base. All of them came across Lenkov low-tech ingenuity base defense. Those defenses were nothing more than a trench that could stop a APC dead in it’s tracks. The trench was filled with gasoline and was covered with a thin concrete slab that could allow a person to stand upon it, but a APC would break through it. But the type of concrete that was used was a combustible type. When a APC broke through the slab, a Marine that is skilled in archery would fire a flaming arrow into trench setting it on fire. For the rest of the Heavy APC drivers it confused them as to where they should go. Although the fire could not destroy the Heavy APC, it did meant that the troops inside had to go over the APC, which, in return, meant that the guns on the APC could not be used. In some cases the crew of the APC was killed. In other cases the crew was killed and the APC was destroyed. In other cases the defenders were killed. Regardless, Dawson attack upon the left flank failed miserably.

  “Sir, our assault on the left flank has failed. They’re reporting that they broke through, and that the traitors are using trench traps to stop our APCs.” Dawson’s driver informed him.

  “What about our right flank?”

  “They’re reporting that they are unable to breach the defenses, sir.”

  “Then tell them to move to the left flank and attack from there.”

  “Yes sir.”

  What Dawson didn’t realize is, that is another one of Lenkov tactics. One flank is too strong while another one is weak, but not too weak. Lenkov knew that when a enemy sees one of their assaults on a enemy flank has failed, but they managed to break through the defenses, while the enemy other flank is holding strong against all assaults against it, the temptation to abandoned the assault upon the strong flank and attack the weaker flank is too strong to resist. This is part of Lenkov’s trap, for it forces his enemy to waste time on a strong defense.

  The last tank had no trouble entering the base, but it was destroyed as soon as it fully entered the base causing a traffic jam with the rest of the APCs. It was extremely hard for those APCs to enter the base after that. They had to move the tank out of the way, the enemy had the high ground, they had to find a position to move to in order to allow the rest of the APCs to enter the base, they had to provide cover fire for their crew when they left the APC, trying not to run over their wounded comrades (some of them were run over), and finally trying not to get their own APC destroyed. By the time they finally secure the area most of the APCs were destroyed or heavily damaged, and the crew had to take up a defensive position because of it.

  Before the situation with the Heavy APCs assault upon the left flank was resolved, Captain Dawson’s captured personnel rushed and killed their guards. Before they got to the lobby in the building that they were being held in, a group of Dragon Clones and Marines came in and was promptly overrun and was killed. Dawson’s men then quickly realize that there was only one way in or out of the lobby and it was guarded by a Dragon Clone sitting in a gun turret on both the left and right side of the entrance to the building, and by a group of Dragon Clones in a bunker that was in between the two gun turrets with a large window that faced the entrance of the building. Despite that, Dawson’s men still overran them and manned the gun turrets and bunker in order to protect the wounded who was placed in the lobby. Of Dawson’s 713 personnel who was captured, only 158 was still able to fight and the rest was either dead or wounded. The 158 escapees then ran right into Lenkov’s trap for them should they manage to escape. And this time it would be friendly fire that will kill most of them.

  After their escape the 158 escapees, blinded by what they couldn’t see on the other side of the fires from the trenches, and knowing that there had to be an opening on the other side, ran around the fire and met up with the Heavy APCs from the right flank. But everybody in the Heavy APCs assumed that Lenkov would make certain that the prisoners had no way to escape. So they assumed that the EOD personnel that they saw coming around the fire were Lenkov’s people and not their own. The killing stop when one of the drivers recognized one the escapees (who was shot in the right chest and was killed instantly) coming at them. The wounded was then taken back to the lobby of the building that once held them captive.

  “Sir, I just wanna tell you…” Dawson’s driver was saying. Just then both of them saw a flash of light coming from the sky. What they saw was three drop-ships heading towards the base at top speed. Each of the drop-ships have been retrofitted with a torpedo and was basically a kamikaze robot.

  “Get out of the base you sons-of-bitches!” The driver screamed through the com system. But it was too late. The drop-
ship crashed into the very building that was being used to hold their wounded. None survived. And then the rest of the defenders made their last attack run and then it was all over. All of the defenders were killed and Dawson had 522 personnel left alive. When Dawson saw those drop-ships hit the base, he laughed. It was evident that he was losing his mind.

  (5)

  Lieutenant Sanchez was in the barracks crying and holding a picture of her children. She was having a dreadful feeling that this will be her last mission. She was telling the picture that she was sorry for how she neglected them and she asked for their forgiveness. She then had this strange feeling of death and then she had the thought that she must seek forgiveness before she can be forgiven. Then she had the feeling that when she seek forgiveness it is not with her children, but with someone else.

  As Sanchez was sitting there, without her realizing it, it got colder. It was cold enough for her to see her breath, but she didn’t notice it. She then could swear that she could hear her husband’s voice. But it sounded like a whisper. Not only could she hear him, but she could also smell him. She smiled, called out his name, and told him that she misses him.

  “Go talk… to Caparzo. He’s nearby.” The disembody voice said. She then got up and left.

  Through a camera lens on The Hammer of Doom, the EOD Security AI saw something and did not know what it was. It then contacted the Security Chief on duty. What it saw was something that Parker would have recognize in a instant, for it came from his dream. But this time it is no dream, it was for real. Proving that what Parker dreamt was something far more than meets the eye.

  The Security AI saw a black shape the size and built of Sanchez’s husband. It then turned and looked at the camera and then its eyes turned red. It then grew much taller and it never took its eyes off of the camera. It then said, “Iiyku’dkk byn o e’yyo y no fru’wyda (e-eye-ku doc bin o e-eyido e no fru [sounds like through] why-da).” And then it disappeared. The Security Chief, unable to believe what he had just saw, had the Security AI to track Sanchez and to monitor Caparzo.

  When Sanchez got to the barracks that Caparzo was in, she could hear loud music playing. It was the type that she knew neither Caparzo, nor anybody else in Task Force ZH-3C like. She then went into the bathroom and saw him. He was lying in the bathtub with his shorts on. On the outside of the tub, near his left hand, was a bottle of tequila. In his right hand was a small knife. Sanchez then turned off the music, put the toilet seat cover down, and then sat down on it. At first she didn’t say anything, and then she held out her left hand to him. Caparzo for a brief moment did nothing, he then handed her the knife and looked down in shame.

  “Why? I know it’s not because of me. So why?” Sanchez asked.

  “I don’t want to talk about it.” Caparzo said under his breath and with his head down in shame.

  “And why not?”

  “Isn’t this what you wanted? For me to die?” Caparzo said in a self-pity tone of voice.

  “No. I would never wish something like that upon anyone.”

  “Not even upon those who did what they did to your husband?” Caparzo asked her. Sanchez didn’t respond because she was thinking about something and did not want to mention it.

  “I’m not going to turn you in.” Sanchez said. It confused Caparzo because he didn’t expect that from her. Not from someone who is a bitch like she is.

  “Why?” Caparzo asked her. Sanchez didn’t say anything because she didn’t want to.

  “Look Caparzo… I know that you won’t believe me but, I’m here to help.”

  Caparzo laughed when he heard that. He then said, “You sure could have me fooled.” He then took a sip from the tequila.

  “Do I have to order you to tell me? Or would you prefer me to turn you in?” Sanchez asked Caparzo. He gave her a dirty look and mouthed something. He then took a long sip of tequila. With a lot a hurt and pain in both his eyes and voice, he told her a ugly truth about himself.

  “I have no idea as to where I was born.” Caparzo was saying. “For some reason my family didn’t like to talk about it. I grew up upon a strip mining colony on a moon that was at least 500 miles across. Not much to do on a world like that other than to gamble. My father was no different.”

  “What about your mother?” Sanchez asked.

  “She died when I was three. My family never talked about it. It turned my father into an alcoholic. It was like he was never there. My eldest sister took care of me until my tenth birthday. That’s when she died in a mining accident. After that it was just me and Cindy. My other older sister. I would say my father but… like I said, he was never there for us.

  When Cindy was sixteen she was sexually active with her boyfriend. If my dad knew he wouldn’t have care. Two years later Cindy and her boyfriend broke up because of what he did to her. He told her that he got promoted out. But Cindy caught him, and one of her friends, in bed at his apartment. Cindy claimed that her boyfriend said that he thought that she was into FFM action.

  Cindy was crushed. She came home crying and telling me what happened. She then went downstairs, got a tequila bottle and got drunk. She later came upstairs and got me to try some. I didn’t like it, but she got me drunk. She then put on that music that you turn off. She said that she knew that it was not my twelfth birthday so she is going to give me a late birthday present. She then… rape me I guess you say that.” Caparzo was saying.

  “I’m so sorry to hear that.” Sanchez said. She really meant that and Caparzo could tell.

  Caparzo was crying more deeply and had the thousand yard stare. He sounded like a person who is so depressed that he is fixing to commit suicide. “That relationship…” Caparzo was saying. “…lasted for two years. It ended when my sister got promoted out of the colony. I guess that I should have been glad but I wasn’t.”

  “How come?” Sanchez asked.

  “I often wondered that myself. I should have been since she wouldn’t be a-touchin’ me anymore. The sad, or I guess sick from your point of view… I actually missed what she did to me and I don’t know why. I don’t know if it was loneliness, missing my sister, a girl who liked me, or a combination of the three. At times I wished that I knew. Maybe it could help me to heal if I knew.

  After she left, and during the next school year, a girl liked me but I blew it with her. I didn’t get any girlfriends after that and I don’t know why. I guess it’s because I was quiet, withdrawn… The feelings that one has when they have PTSD. I was confused, angry and I started to get into trouble. I guess it was my way of telling people that something was wrong with me, but nobody was listening. I had run-ins with the law and when I turned fifteen I turned to drugs. A cry for help to those who are deaf. God help me.” Caparzo was saying. He took another long sip from the tequila bottle and was visibly drunk. He also got out of the bathtub and sat on the rim. He then let out the water.

  Caparzo continued on. “I did drugs because it was my way of grieving the lost of my childhood. My life changed when I was a senior in high school. That was the year that a recruiter for the Army came, so I joined. I just wanted to get away from the bad memories. The Army helped me to get in touch with my sister and I learned that she became a Jesus freak. I was able to meet up with her and I confronted her over what she did to me. She then got mad at me. She acted like it never happened. That as a good Christian girl she would never do anything so disgusting like that. She threw me out when I told her that she has a tattoo of a pickaxe through a rose in which the rose is bleeding and it is one inch above her vagina. She called me a pervert and never wanted to see me again. To this day I still haven’t heard anything from her. It made it that much more harder for me to heal.”

  Sanchez was hurt for the way that she treated him earlier. She really did regretted it and wished that she could take it back. She now understands him and what she doesn’t know is that she’s not the only one. Not one former member of the EOD told them to always act as if someone else is listening in on your conversion. It’s h
ard to say why they never mentioned it.

  “I’m sorry for how I treated you back in Roscadia.” Sanchez said sincerely.

  “It doesn’t matter. We’re all going to die here.” Caparzo responded.

  “You don’t know that.”

  “Yes I do. After I saw Venito died I had this constant feeling of death. It was like it was following me or something. At first I thought that it was because I saw her died, but now I’m not so certain anymore. When I saw you come in I got that feeling again. It’s like death was surrounding both of us.” Caparzo responded.

  Sanchez thought for a moment before she spoke. When she spoke she really did meant what she said. All she said was, “I believe you.” Caparzo could tell that she meant it. Sanchez continued on. “What I’m about to tell you, you never heard it from me.”

  “I understand ma’am.”

  “It was the CIA who ordered me to rescue my husband. But they kept it a secret from my superiors and I don’t know why. Bad intelligence led me to the wrong place. The CIA then struck a deal behind my back with the EOD forces there, and together both of them threw me under the bus. They, the CIA, said that if I didn’t remain quiet about their involvement they would make my life, and the life of my children a living hell. And to answer your question from earlier…” Sanchez was saying.

  “What question?”

  “The reason why I went to see the mafia on Roscadia was that they had a connection to both the CIA and the EOD. And I was hoping that they…” Sanchez was saying.

  “That’s alright ma’am. You don’t have to continue. I understand why you did what you did.” Caparzo said. Sanchez started to leave when he spoke and what he said caused her to sit back down.

  “Ma’am, I need to tell you something that is so classified that it could get both of us shot.”

  “Alright. Go ahead.” Sanchez said after she sit back down.

  “Before I joined the Army I heard about Roscadia. It was the reason why I wanted to join the Army. I felt like I could make more money there than where I was. After I joined the Army my drug addiction got me kicked out. So I used my enlistment bonus to head to Roscadia. That’s where my gambling debt comes from.