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

by Douglas Howell

  “Not an easy thing to do sir.”

  “He hates the media. He calls them vultures. That’s how you avoid him.”

  “So what do you think will be the outcome of when the Golems attack?” Ramirez asked.

  “Don’t ask. It’s a another reason why you and your team should avoid Wilcox. He is a good leader if someone is throwing a hand grenade at him.”

  “Any ideas on the other captains from RTF Group Tactical SC-15?”

  “Yeah… either one of them should be here and not Wilcox. Don’t worry about them… Lieutenant Commander… they are a fully capable commander. A great deal of blood and treasure will be lost but somehow the Golems will be defeated.”

  “Thank you sir. I wish you and your people the best of luck.” Ramirez stated as he saluted his officer and then left.

  Ellis already had experience in dealing with Renegades. He encountered them at least three times and he’d freed them. Ramirez, like Wexler, never encountered them. Everyone knew that they exist but not that many people ever encountered them. The media was having a field day in asking (annoying) this new group of individuals. All of Golden Hyperion was watching as the media (vultures) was asking their questions to this new group of individuals.

  “Just what is your attention in dealing with the people of this world!?” The reporter asked one of the Demon Xs.

  “What!? Just what in the hell are you talking about?” The Demon X responded.

  “Your kind brought a lot of death and destruction to this world and…”

  The Demon X then scuffed and walked off. The way that everybody was looking at them told these Renegades that humans will always see them as nothing more than monsters. They were created to be a killing machine from a heartless cold institution. The genetic drift within them will always guarantee that they will never be able to breed. They have no hope for a future other than that of death. Humans know that and don’t really care about them. They are nothing more than bullets coming out of a rifle. So who cares if that bullet doesn’t hit it’s target.

  (26)

  “I do believe that we have achieved our mission. Now let’s get outta here.” Taylor mentioned.

  “It’s about time.” Coté responded.

  As the three of them got near any of the airplanes, helicopters or even ground vehicles the Golem’s protectors drove them back. Unfortunately they just couldn’t simply walk off the base nor acquire a vehicle. They were trapped with no way to get out. The base defensives in that sector was still trying to target them. They could see the robotic targeting eye looking at them. They had no explosives to take out those defensives. If only those damn Golems would let them have one single vehicle. Just one, any one would do. They were more than willing being shot down than to stay on that airbase a moment longer. They had no food, just energy tablets. For the past two days that’s all that they had. (Actually for at least ten days they were on a reduced diet since they only had enough food for four days.) And they were running through those energy tablets left and right.

  “Oh my god! A drone! It’s one of ours!” Nakada shouted out, out of joy.

  The drone then flew lower and circled overhead three times denoting that the pilot saw them. Help will come, but when they do not know. They just had to hold out until help arrived and it came in the form of artillery bombardment of the base defensives. It went on for quite some time for entire day to be exact. But most of the shots were missing their targets due to being thrown off course by the base counter measures.

  (27)

  “What? Did you noticed our captain?” Ramirez asked the pilot who was controlling the drone.

  “No sir.”

  “Take another look at the Golem.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Shit.” Ramirez said slightly under his breath when he realized that there was only one.

  Ramirez then left to inform the rest of his team. In the distance they could see Wilcox’s command HQ that he’d set up. All the other captains (including JB Dawson who now wants to be called simply Captain Red) was there discussing any and all possible tactics. Ramirez thinking about the fact that the rest of Task Force ZH-3C has no food, decided to go and tell those captains of his idea on mounting a rescue mission. (He already knew what they would say: no. But he had to ask anyway.) As he got near he could tell that they were in a dispute concerning each other’s tactics.

  “Sirs, I hate to bother each of you, but the rest of my team was discovered at the airbase. I would like to mount a rescue mission to exfiltrate them. One of the Golems is there and I didn’t notice where the other one is. I do believe that my captain is pursuing that one.”

  “Hold on one moment Lieutenant Commander.” Captain Red responded.

  “Then our suspicions are confirmed.” Captain Peterson mentioned.

  “What about the transport ships in orbit?” Captain Wilcox asked.

  “Since the elites of this world is caring more about their own selfish interest we should give them something to think about. The old EOD saying ‘blood is for spilling’ comes to mind. We must inform the media that for the good of this world we are taking over. Any transport ships attempting to land will be destroyed. Any elites who is deem an enemy to this world will have all assets siege. Those who resist shall be taken down.” Captain Brunner responded.

  “And who will take them down might I ask?” Captain Red asked.

  “I will. I do have the training.” Captain Brunner responded.

  “Begging the pardon, but you’re not that good.” Captain Red responded.

  “But you are better at infiltration and sabotage. Isn’t that, combine with using as many air vehicles as possible, is what it is going to take in order to destroy the airbase?” Captain Brunner asked.

  “I see where you are going with this. We, the Renegades, go in to take down the vehicles so that the Golems can’t use them and…” Captain Red was saying.

  “Now hold on a minute!” Captain Brunner interrupted him stated.

  “No, you hold on a minute!”

  “I will not! You won’t let me explain!”

  “No it’s you who won’t let me explain!”

  “Goddamn it will you let me explain! The crew of…!”

  “I know what you are going to say and I already knew it! Now let me finish what I was going to say!” Captain Red shouted.

  “You know I’m starting to get a headache with the two of you arguing all the time.” Wilcox said with a sigh that shows that he was getting sick and tired of it.

  “Captain Red, please continue with what you were going to say.” Captain Peterson added.

  “We, the genetically grown monsters of the EOD, have no real future other than that of death on the battlefield. Don’t believe me? Ask Jaguar and Viper how they see their future. Even if we can breed it doesn’t mean that it would lead to us becoming a far more populace. Let us die with dignity, not as the monsters that we are called, but rather as a Renegade. Isn’t that what this world is becoming? A world filled with a growing number of people who is rebelling against the EOD? I will lead the charge. But I doubt that you, or this world, will ever see any of us again.” Captain Red stated. He then got up and left to prepare his people.

  (28)

  Vaistll was recovering from her hangover. She now remembers how much she hated being drunk. It was effecting her ability to perform her duties. Throwing up and feeling miserable and knowing that is what alcohol does. It is a mind altering drug, a depressant. She is lucky that she never had the craving for it like some of her old friends back home on her home world. She is starting to realize that this will be her last mission one way or the other. Death before dishonor for her rage at being drunk was giving her the strength to take on the Golem.

  She pursued the Golem to the best of her abilities vomiting and drinking water so that she can get that nasty poison out her system. While moaning because of the misery and the depression that the alcohol was causing her to feel, not having the energy to continue, she finally real
ized a certain truth about the Golem. It has a military grade tactical computer straight from a starship. And like an AI opponent from the game of chess, it can’t think. It can only out calculate.

  She found a cafeteria and stayed there for a while trying her best to overcome the effects of alcohol. After she finally overcome the effects from her binge drinking, she stood up and started to feel freer than before. This lone trooper, as old as she is, as tough as she is, finally found her peace in life. She was able to think more clearly than before. And she realized where the Golem was heading: to the base data center. It contained all of the codes that the Golem would need. It was a tactic. It was a calculation pure and simple on the part of the Golem.

  She raced ahead as fast as she could to the data center. She would set traps to slow down the Golem. Using it’s strength to out calculate against it. In order to solve the trap the Golem must think. She had to work fast and hard. A strange joy overtook her as she was outwitting her enemy.

  (29)

  “Oh my god. The whole universe came.” Coté responded as she stood there in sheer awe at the total number of air vehicles coming to the base.

  The three of them stood there incapable of moving. Although they were in harm’s way from falling wreckage, they just couldn’t bulge. They had to watch the action. And then they saw a transport land and offload the Renegades. They were completely flabbergasted at the sight especially noticing that the Renegades noticed them. (A Demon X actually gave them a thumbs up as it ran by.) And then another transport came and landed nearby and standing in it’s doorway was Ramirez.

  “I heard that you guys ordered a pizza.” Ramirez responded with a smile. As the rest of Task Force ZH-3C came out Ramirez motioned for Taylor, Nakada and Coté to come on board and get their slice of a pepperoni pizza.

  “Oh my god this is just so delicious. Thank you sir.” Coté mentioned.

  “Where’s the captain?” Ellis asked.

  “She’s tracking a Golem that headed in a south-by-southeast direction.” Nakada responded.

  “Look like the other captains were right. It’s headed off to the base data center.” Wexler mentioned. Shrapnel struck him in the back but did no damage because of his suit.

  “What do you mean ‘the other captains’? What happen to Captain Maxwell?” Taylor asked.

  “The other ships from RTF Group Tactical SC-15 came back to start trouble because of the Founder. Dark Phoenix was near destroyed in the ensuing battle. Thank god that Captain Maxwell was onboard because he saved the day. But they had to leave given the damage to the ship. Three of the captains from the Group Tactical came down to join us.” Ramirez responded.

  “Hey, let’s get outta of here and go get the captain.” Ellis mentioned. The action was getting a little too intense for his liking.

  “That goddamn mother fucker! Get him off my ass!” Wexler cried out as he was shooting at one of the Golem protectors (He was manning the 50-cal plasma gun in the APC.)

  “This is Captain Red. I got him.”

  Wexler watched as Captain Red’s crippled helicopter gunship crashed into the protector. Destroying the protector and killing Captain Red. (Technically it didn’t kill him but he chose death over finding some helpless victim like Captain Dawson would have.)

  “Blast the door open to the facility! We got to get inside!” Ellis shouted out.

  They then had to stop when a small group of protectors got in front of them and the opening. Before anyone could act five Demon Xs jumped out of a helicopter gunship and started to attack the Golem’s protectors. One of the Golem protectors then took to flight in an effort to take out the gunship. But a Demon X jumped upon it’s wing and the protector felled down crippling it and nearly killing the Demon X. The fight lasted for eight to ten minutes and the pilot, seeing that the Demon Xs were killed, made a suicidal plunge into the protectors destroying or seriously damaging the rest. Jaguar 42R who was in the APC with Ellis, finished off any protectors that was left. After that they were able to enter the facility.

  “Keep driving!” Ramirez shouted out.

  It was dark within the corridors. Each hard turn caused the APC to smack hard against anything in the corridors. Off and on Wexler had to shoot at the protectors who was coming from everywhere. At one point they could hear (and feel) the Golem coming for them. Because they were in a heavy APC which had extra guns, both the team and the protectors were tearing up the facility.

  “Head to the right! Be careful because of a two thousand foot drop!” Ramirez shouted.

  The Golem came right through a wall in front of them, lost it’s balance, and started to fall over the chasm. Both Wexler and Jaguar 42R then shot the Golem causing it to fall down the chasm. As luck would have it, the Golem didn’t destroy the railing that the APCs were on. The protectors then headed down the chasm to assist the Golem.

  “Stop! I just got the captain’s signal!” Ramirez shouted out. He then jumped out to track down his captain and his friend. He’d quickly caught up to her gave her a new helmet and both of them quickly headed back to the APCs.

  “Oh dear god we finally made it.” Coté responded with a sigh.

  “Jesus, this place is huge.” Ellis mentioned.

  “So now what?” Wexler asked.

  “I finally figured out what to do with Kronos. Given what the captain said about the Golems if we could encrypt the data that they are after using Kronos, combined with Sayaka’s virus, the Golems in due time, should theoretically figure out that Kronos is the bigger threat and go after it’s source. And thus the upper echelons of the EOD becomes the greater threat to the Golem.” Ramirez responded he was somewhat relieved to have finally figured it out.

  “So just how are we supposed to get it off of this world?” Taylor asked.

  “There is all of that space junk in orbit from all of those destroyed ships. Sanders did mentioned that part of a ship landed in the ocean nearby where he went missing.” Ramirez responded.

  “Oh no… you mean that we have to lead that damn thing all the way back there?” Coté asked with a very heavy sigh.

  “I’m afraid so. But once it leaves this world our job is done.” Taylor responded.

  “Okay then, let’s do this. Give it Kronos and then let’s lure it back there.” Vaistll mentioned.

  “And what about Wilcox’s, err, Lenkov’s forces?” Ellis asked her.

  “They got their job to do and we got ours. I’m pretty much certain it’s what Lenkov would want us to do.” Vaistll responded. In a small way she, like them, missed both Lenkov and Omori.

  They waited for quite some time for the Golem to return. They had to show to it that they were still a major threat not to be taken lightly. For some reason it had no protectors with it. They wanted to trick it into running into a booby trap (Normally they wouldn’t have set it given the enormous size of the Golem.) all in an effort to get it to “think” that they are trying to stop it from achieving it’s objective. With a little effort, and the Golem rumbling from what sounded like it is getting upset, combined with them occasionally shooting the computers (creating the impression that they are trying to destroy them which they weren’t), the Golem took the bait and came for them.

  (30)

  Captain Brunner was outside the house of the most powerful and the most influential (and the most corrupt) EOD official on Golden Hyperion. Like a mafia boss he was surrounded by, not only other individuals like him, but also a armed gang of hired thugs. It was nighttime when Captain Brunner arrived and already he could tell how it will go down. Like he said from earlier, blood is for spilling and he realized that a lot of it will be spilled. In the distance he could see a police helicopter heading to the house. And he saw a missile take it down. The fire from the down wreckage was setting the forest ablaze but there was nothing that he could do other than inform the fire department. As he got nearer to the house the defenders was trying to snipe anyone who came out of their vehicles. Those snipers was quickly taken down by highly skilled police sn
ipers. And then it happened. A police mobile battling ram was struck by a missile crippling it.

  Fifteen minutes had passed before a tank came and blasted a large hole in the wall. They could see the house in the distance and the armed thugs waiting for them. The tank than fired three shots trying to make the hole in the wall much larger when a missile struck it. It did very little damage but it did took out the left tank tracks. As the car that Captain Brunner was in came nearer a round went through the windshield killing his driver. As the car came to a stop, and as Brunner was getting out, a round went through the door nearly killing him. Without him knowing it, the round struck his side arm damaging the weapon. It took another eighteen minutes before those with the missile launchers were all killed. It was indeed a war zone with the defenders choosing death.

  Twenty-four minutes later Brunner finally made it to the house. His people fought long and hard just trying to flank the front of the house so that they could come in from multiple directions. Twenty-two minutes later both the front and right wing was secured. Brunner on three occasions was almost killed and still he pushed on. Once the police helicopter with the SWAT team members landed on the roof it started to become a real blood bath. In an effort to get around the left wing and rear of the house a APC had to run over any wounded thug who couldn’t get out of the way fast enough. Ten long minutes had passed before the mega mansion was surrounded.

  Fifteen minutes later the police was able to secure the lower levels of the front and left wing. A fire broke out somewhere in the right wing. Spread to cover a large part and was eventually put out by the house fire control system. Because of the speed of the fire, and the length of time it took for the fire control system to turn on it was strongly suspected that it was started intentionally. It also made it harder for the police (because of the smoke) to gain control the right wing.

  Off into the distance behind the rear of the house, there was a large explosion. Brunner was no idiot for he did his research upon the house (Finding anyone with insider information that is.) and knew of a secret exit which as soon as it was discovered he wanted it destroyed. It was at that point, just three minutes later, that the defenders went berserk. For they all knew that they had no way out but death. As Brunner came into the last stronghold within the mansion he tried in vain to pull out his gun only to be killed by one of thugs. Nevertheless, the rest of the thugs was quickly killed off.