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

by Douglas Howell

  “Do you think that the enemy will attack?”

  “If it is really Captain Dawson – what do you think?”

  “Shit.” She said under her breath.

  “Look, I’m not going to lie to you Captain, all of this is starting to look more, and more, like a major civil war is brewing within the EOD.”

  “So what should we expect?”

  “Everything. We are all equally expendable. Civilians included.”

  Vaistll took a deep breath and said, “So what shall I do while you are away? What is the best way in dealing with your crew?”

  “My crew is like the navy. They are not use to infantry form of warfare.” He then said something but he was starting to get out of range.

  “Could you please repeat that?”

  “I said that you… (static)… repeat please dear God don’t…” He was then too far out of range for her to hear what he had to say. He tried to tell her not to leave for it would demoralize his crew.

  Maxwell’s fears that she would leave to go support her team was well founded. He knew that she would go if her team needed her. That’s what he would do. And in due time, that’s what happened, for she had no other choice. Besides, neither she nor Maxwell knew what Ramirez had to say when he was discovered. They only knew that he, along with the rest of Task Force ZH-3C needed help. Maxwell gave his blessing for her to go. She received the message en-route just like he knew that she would. He forgave her for leaving and so did his crew. That meant a lot to her.

  (5)

  Dominique Entwistle finally arrived at the hospital where her husband was at. Maxwell ordered her to go after she insisted that she stay with her team. When she asked for a reason he didn’t give her one. He, along with her, knew why he is ordering her to be with her husband. It didn’t take long for both her and Mr. Entwistle to be grateful for Maxwell’s gift. They got a birds eye view of the battlefield since the media copters were flying overhead. Both were too disturb at what they were seeing. They, unlike the media, knew what they were seeing. Of course the media did and did not care about what they were reporting upon. Since when did they ever.

  After what they saw, like so many more of Lenkov’s personnel, they went AWOL. They, like the rest, will stay on Golden Hyperion for the rest of their lives. But nobody not even Lenkov, would ever come after those who went AWOL. Newer opportunities presented themselves that suggested that it was no longer necessary to go after the crew. Nevertheless the crew will still have to fight for their freedom. Warrant Officer Bryce was right yet again about never retreating from evil.

  (6)

  “My, my, my ain’t I the popular fellow all of a sudden. What do I owe the pleasure of this visit? Do you two need advice on how to defeat the enemy?” Julius Howell III asked both Thomas “Mad Dawg” Burton and Douglas “The Steel Cage” McIntyre.

  “Lenkov ordered us here. If we return… we will be shot.” McIntyre mentioned sounding defeated.

  “That serious huh.” Julius Howell III responded.

  “He was being very forceful. We wanted to help… but he said no.” Mad Dawg responded.

  “I see… then he did the right thing for the two you.” Julius Howell III responded.

  “Sir, before he ordered us the ship’s sensors detected a unknown alien ship entering the system and heading towards that starbase that is orbiting around Omicron Ultra.” Mad Dawg informed him.

  “Do you have any Intel on that starbase sir?” McIntyre asked. Julius then got up and fletch a bottle of hard liquor and pour both of them a shot.

  “They’re going to find out the truth sooner or later.” Julius mentioned after he took a sip on his drink. He put three shots of hard liquor in a glass and pour soda into the glass after he gave them their shots. He then took another sip and continued. “It’s obvious that the alien ship is coming to retrieve their lost technology. When Lenkov arrived in this system he immediately contacted me for Intel. Although he had CO’s who responded to him, they, like him, were under my command. I saw potential within him were the EOD did not. And what I saw within him was the fulfillment of my family deepest desires. I needed him to continue the legacy of my ancestors.”

  “So what is the technology at that base? And why is it so important to retrieve?” McIntyre asked him. McIntyre then took another shot.

  “First I want to come clean.” Julius responded. He then took another sip of his drink. He was starting to get a buzz but his mind is still clear. He continued on, “I came here to die here. I found this world a long time ago and I knew that it was perfect to fulfill my family ambitions. Either to change leadership of the EOD or to destroy the EOD. Although my family, like I told you, always wanted to change the EOD never to destroy it, things don’t always turn out the way in which you plan. I had to make a major decision. Which was to cripple the EOD. Not to destroy it. For I knew that if it was destroyed it would create a power vacuum within this universe. If the EOD must fall then it must be a control fall. So you see, I had no other choice but to orchestrate that fall.”

  “So you spent all that time setting up the…” Mad Dawg was saying. He was struggling to put in the right words what he is trying to say, giving the fact that he is starting to get drunk. “Sitting up the chess board for a civil war.”

  “Actually.’ Julius responded.

  “It’s amazing that you could have pulled that off sir.” McIntyre added. At that point the three of them was drunk, but still drinking.

  “Now you can image why I picked up the habit of drinking.” Julius responded.

  “And the starbase?” Mad Dawg asked through slurred speech. At that point both him and McIntyre was drinking straight from the bottle. It was something that Julius couldn’t do.

  “It was a perfect opportunity that seemed to come from the Gods. I would have been a fool not to have jumped at it. Only now do I wish that I let it slipped me by. The technology suggested to our scientists that it was the most advanced wormhole ever conceived. It suggested that humanity could travel to another galaxy. Or at least the EOD could. But something wasn’t right.”

  “Here’s dinner if you guys are hungry.” Valentina Howell (Julius’ wife) said to them.

  “Thanks ma’am.” McIntyre responded.

  “You’re welcome.” She responded. She then sit down and pour herself a drink.

  “Sir, what did happen at that base?” McIntyre asked him. Julius did not want to answer him.

  “In an effort to reverse engineer what may, or may not be a super wormhole, those scientists had no other choice but to integrate themselves into the computer mainframe.” Valentina mentioned.

  “Yeah, they never took the Krell Hypothesis into account.” Julius added referring to the hypothesis that the pursuit of scientific perfection can blind a group of scientists to the bestial part of the nature of their species and ultimately lead to their demise.

  “What happen was that they went insane and, other than the anomaly, that’s all we know. They do have the capability to still contact those outside the base. For whatever reason, they won’t.” Valentina informed them.

  “So what is known about those ET’s?” Mad Dawg asked.

  “They’re sociopaths in a nutshell. They don’t share everything in common with a human sociopath, but what they do are as follows: they can be manipulative and conning. They do appear to have some degree of shallow emotions and incapacity for love. At times they appear to possess callousness and a lack of empathy. But that may be due to humans misunderstanding a new species. Most of the rest may be based upon the possibility that they are militaristic to some degree. Without a doubt they are coldly logical and contemptuous of those who seek to understand them.” Julius informed them.

  “Yeah, and it turns out that not only they come in groups of three, but those three are always, and I do mean always, female and a cyborg. They obviously choose not to speak a human language even though they can speak, and understand, our languages. They’re height appears to be between five foot four to no
more than five foot eight. And we do not know what he is, but a male version, who is always on a monitor, seems to control them.” Valentina added.

  “And that’s all that we know.” Julius concluded.

  Each of them finished their dinner and then retired to bed. Both Mad Dawg and McIntyre would stay there until everything was settled on that world. The four of them had the time of their life enjoying each other’s company. But each of them knew that it was just a way to ignore what was occurring on that world. They wanted to enjoy their retirement not to be disturbed by the war with Dawson. They were also afraid of the thought that maybe, just maybe, Dawson may win this fight. Neither one of them could stand that thought and at times they found themselves drinking again. They gave each other support during the difficult times. And when it was all over they stayed in contact. The former enemies were now the closes of friends.

  (7)

  Ramirez, like Taylor, suffered the exact same type of attack that wounded him. But unlike Taylor, he was trained to keep on going (if he decides to do that - that is) despite his injuries. Everybody realized who was there not so long ago and what happened to them. So at least they know that they will not end up like Rymer and company. They also know however, much to their chagrin, that this new threat may be more than even they could handle. Yes they will give it their all, but it might not be enough in order to survive. They need something. And they are fixing to get it.

  “Ma’am… I must object! Do not… I repeat… do not come… Ma’am? Goddamn it!” Ramirez, who was talking to Vaistll, was desperately trying to inform her of the danger of bringing anyone to where he was. It was obvious to everyone, from his conversion with her, that she has already made up her mind. But what confused everyone the most was why would she risk everything to bring a team with her knowing full well that is not necessary.

  Several hours later, Vaistll, Nakada, Coté and several of Lenkov’s personnel arrived at the small town that Ramirez and company was stationed at. When they arrived there, both Taylor and Ramirez was fully recovered from their injuries. Needless to say, both was upset with Vaistll coming there. They knew, or suspected, what she was getting the team into and both thought that she did not know. Both was planning on giving her an earful when she arrived. As soon as she did, it only resulted in the three of them getting into an argument over what she should, or shouldn’t have done.

  “Ma’am. Ma’am!” Coté had to yelled at her to get Vaistll to listen.

  “What!?” Vaistll snapped back.

  “Don’t you think it’s kind of strange that we should be led back to where 1st Lieutenant Rymer was at not too long ago? What if this is a trap? I mean, wouldn’t Captain Dawson had known what is, and is not here?” Coté responded.

  “Just what are you getting at Elizabeth?” Vaistll asked her.

  “I always thought that the EOD was the type of evil institution that had the attitude that if you don’t expect the unexpected then you shouldn’t be surprised at your defeat.” Coté responded. Vaistll didn’t responded because she knew that Coté was right.

  “Ma’am would you like to take a look at the access panel?” Ramirez asked Vaistll who only nodded.

  Outside there was a tool shed and inside there was wall computer console with an inventory list on it. Ramirez knew that the EOD always like to hide things in plain sight. They did that because they knew that most people would not even notice. And those who do? Most people would classify them as a nut-job. Another hallmark of the EOD – those who know the truth most be label as crazy by all. Of course the EOD was always far more subtle in their propaganda then nations are. Nobody would ever know that they are being re-programmed by the EOD. So it was obvious that within this inventory list there could be something within that is important. Ramirez knew that in order to find the backdoor he had to look for an item within that list that appears to be out of place when one look at all items in the concept that they all had a double meaning.

  As so typical of the EOD Ramirez knew that he was putting together a simple, but complex, jigsaw puzzle. Ramirez also knew that it would “reveal” a map. The location was a hidden passage behind a nearby waterfall. (Another hallmark of the EOD – hide things so well that even they can’t find it. It was also a problem that the EOD acknowledged, but did not want to change.) As luck would have it, and the team should have loved it, there would not have been any defenses there. Captain Dawson himself also knew, and Ramirez knew it as well, that the location would not be a good place to stand your ground. And thus, Ramirez knew that Captain Dawson would not be there.

  Nobody knew what to expect when they arrived. But those with enough experience in dealing with the EOD strongly suspected that the EOD is losing it’s luster. In the olden days the EOD had the mantra of “never trade caution for security,” now it’s more like “whatever works.” It is indeed the current version that is more revealing for it showed that is becoming increasingly more arrogant and more incompetent than before. The real problem with the current mantra is that the EOD no longer had to think long and hard about how to hide what they are doing, nor did it matter rather or not they put much empathize on what matters the most – security.

  Once inside it became immediately obvious that the secret location was a storage facility, a small one at that. What it held was two clones, both were prototypes and both were gone. The facility computers revealed what Dawson had become which spooked everyone. And now they knew why Dawson would risk all to go there and why he wasn’t there.

  “Excuse me for asking ma’am, but what is a GET-ME?” Coté asked Vaistll who looked at Ramirez. Ramirez who, like Taylor, was still in pain from his injuries.

  “A GET-ME means…” Ramirez was saying. He was sitting down and it was starting to cause him pain because of it. He continued on. “…that it has a symbiote that in large part acts as a DNA database but it’s own DNA, also known as it’s master DNA, is predominately an algorithm that allows it’s host to cherry pick certain traits from either the host or that of a target. It can also be chosen in advanced by those who, not only MUST know the algorithm, but is also responsible for the creation of the symbiote and therefore knows what it can and can’t do genetically.”

  “So what happens when the symbiote comes out?” Wexler asked.

  “Nothing.”

  “So who’s in control the host or the symbiote?” Ellis asked.

  “Subjective. Since only clones were always used it’s hard to say who could theoretically could be in control. Besides, a person would naturally change when the body changes.” Ramirez responded. It was starting to become obvious that Ramirez didn’t want to answer anymore questions because of his pain. But it didn’t matter since everybody heard enough.

  “We finally got her!” Coté shouted. She shouted mainly because she was glad that after 30 minutes of trying to reach Sayaka they finally got her.

  “It’s about damn time.” Ellis said.

  “You got to be shittin’ me!” Coté frustratingly responded.

  “What?” Taylor asked her as he came near.

  “Everything is in Japanese sir.” Coté responded.

  “Nakada, front and center!” Taylor ordered him.

  “You wanted to see me sir?” Nakada asked him.

  “Ask Sayaka why is she responding in Japanese.”

  “Yes sir.” Nakada responded. He then changed the computer hologram keyboard to the Japanese version. Unfortunately Nakada always had problems in learning the Kanji.

  “Romaji kuso yarou? What does that mean?” Coté asked Nakada who didn’t respond. The words were very big and red. From the emotion icons that Sayaka was using it was becoming obvious that she was angry at Nakada.

  “Why is she angry with you?” Coté asked. Yet again, Nakada didn’t respond.

  “Why is she angry with you? Answer me.” Taylor asked.

  “Because my Kanji is so-so. And this keyboard doesn’t have English letters on it.” Nakada responded with a heavy sigh. Fifteen minutes later, Say
aka out of stress, terminated the transmission.

  “So what’s the deal with her?” Ellis asked Nakada.

  “I don’t think that she knows why she was responding in Japanese.” Nakada responded.

  For five hours the team had to wait for Sayaka to respond. And nobody knew what Dawson was up to or what he had in store for them. They all realize just how important Sayaka was to their survival since she was the only one who could crack the codes that was protecting the data that was in the computers that not only would have mentioned what type of clones were stored at that small facility, but also the location of Captain Dawson. They also started to perceive Sayaka the way fans would perceive their hero in some tragic Greek story. Sayaka at that point in time became critical to their morale. They knew that was dangerous given what would happen to their morale if something would happen to her. But they’re only human and they couldn’t help but to feel that way. And of course, what is considered to be the tragic part of the story has already happened. As the hours wore on with them not knowing the fate of Sayaka, and with Captain Dawson loose upon that world, combine that with them knowing what a GET-ME is, it was driving them all crazy about the fate of Sayaka.

  “Gomen nasai…” It was Sayaka and the fact that everyone finally got the chance to hear from her boosted their morale. But like the love of a fellow comrade, it was bitter sweet to hear from her. They also knew that she was being extra sincere – hence the fact that the first thing that she spoke was in Japanese. “…about my behavior from earlier. Please understand that I, and Joseph, is having a hard time in integrating ourselves into the ship’s computers. Nothing but logical fallacies. My suspicions confirmed. How antiquated. God if it wasn’t for Joseph I would go insane in here. I can’t take it, not anymore. Heaven help me. Oh dear God. I…never mind. I need you to know that I’m having problems in surviving mentally in here. Everything seems so antiquated in here. The reason why I responded to you in Japanese is because I, at that time period, was being integrated into the ship’s computers. It’s hard for me to respond to you since there is a huge difference between the ship’s computers and what could constitute myself. Like I said, like I suspected long ago, nothing but logical fallacies. It’s like the old me is coming back. It’s so hard to be rational within something that doesn’t possess it. I’m sorry but you are going to have to give me some time to pull myself back together.”