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

by Douglas Howell

  “Did Zell’tlaxx build any cities? How rich was he, in the sense he could build an entire civilization? Or did he tricked Natas into thinking that there was a maritime civilization that was protecting his interests?”

  “That one.” Vaistll said referring to the third question.

  “Why is it that Natas didn’t realize that it was a bogus civilization?”

  “Because he was never much of a diplomat. He never traveled around all that much. I guess it had something to do with his looks, or something else. Then again his palace was more like a trading outpost. Goods came to him, not the other way around. What’s more, he always had bad intelligence gathering capabilities.

  So not only did Zell’tlaxx trick Natas into thinking that here is a civilization that he can count on; he had other brilliant tricks up his sleeve. Any wealth that bogus civilization made went to pay off the tribes that worked for Zell’tlaxx. They were his eyes and ears on Yynol’bkko. They gathered all the intelligence for him. He also trained them in hit-and-run tactics, as well as guerilla warfare.

  Zell’tlaxx also had a very simple way to communicate over Yynol’bkko. Up in the mountains he had beacons built that were placed just far enough to be seen. He also used a simple color-code system that gave the direction, and the size of any army traveling on Yynol’bkko. He also used the same technique at sea. No army could move on Yynol’bkko without him knowing about it.

  I didn’t stand a chance when I lead that Half-Wit army. With all of those tribes hit-and-run tactics, combine with the guerilla warfare; I started to have nightmares about being on another long journey home. It through my planning out of whack. Those tribes kept on coming out of the woodwork and doing a hit-and-run. Combine that with those tribes knowing our every move. That Half-Wit army started to think that they were under the all-seeing eye of Horus. They were freaked out by it. I can’t blame them I felt the same way. I may have a much larger army, roughly three thousand, but it didn’t helped that much. Those tribes under the leadership of Zell’tlaxx waged a scorched earth policy. I think you can imagine what state that Half-Wit army was in when we finally got to our destination. 20% was of them was killed in action. Their discipline was hanging by a thread.

  We laid siege to that city and it meant nothing to a skilled general like Zell’tlaxx. I lost a full third of that Half-Wit army just trying to overcome his outer defenses. Since the city was a port city, he built a ring of defenses around it. Two rings place far enough away from the city so that he can put an army in between them, or in between the city. He connected both the city, and the rings, with a tunnel network. I called the place between those two rings, the ‘Field of Blood.’ And he pulled another dirty trick upon me. This one was the worst of them all.”

  “What was it?”

  “Zell’tlaxx got Tsk’llk and Llyysta to leave with a small army. It gave the appearance of them leaving to go look for help. They did that at a time when it appeared that their defenses are starting to crumble. So Zell’tlaxx needed a tactical deterrence. And both Tsk’llk and Llyysta was the bait. I had no other choice but to go after them. It was both of them that Natas wanted, so of course I had to go after them. While I was chasing both of them through a Half-Wit forest, there was a group of Half-Wits following close behind me. Zell’tlaxx tricked me, and that Half-Wit army of mine, into believing that they were our reinforcements.

  Before I left to go chase Tsk’llk and Llyysta, I divided my army in two. Two-thirds stayed behind, and was later wiped out of existence, and the rest came with me. Eventually that Half-Wit so-called reinforcements did catch up to us. But that occurred only after Tsk’llk and Llyysta got away. When that Half-Wit army caught up to us, all hell broke lose. Friend attacked friend. Friend and foe fought along side each other only to fight one another later. On Iraxxan, Half-Wits would not have been so stupid to allow it to get that far out of hand.

  While that battle was going on, I couldn’t tell if it was night or day. I couldn’t tell if was raining or not. I know it did once but... I don’t remember that it did. I couldn’t even go to sleep. If I did I would have been killed. Lost, confused, terrorized, psychically tired and exhausted, I tried my best to find my way out. I was awake for eight days straight. I know that I was because I started to hallucinate.

  Back when I was going through my advanced training as a warrior, during my first test at survival, I stayed awake for eight days straight. I just didn’t have my act together. On the eight day I started to hallucinate. After that I got my act together. And that’s how I know that I was awake for that long in that forest.

  I was lost out of my mind on that day in that forest. I don’t even know how I made it out. I’m just glad that I did. I probably wouldn’t be here today if I didn’t. All I remember was that I ended up in the hands of Tsk’llk and Llyysta. I don’t know why they were there. I don’t even know if they were alone or not. All I know is that they were there, and they were alone.”

  “What did you do?”

  “Nothing. I just couldn’t take it anymore. I was fixing to give them my sword. It was in a way to tell them that I give up. But Llyysta put her hand on mine to lower it, and then she’d knocked me out with the pommel of her sword. When I awoke, I was in their camp suffering from a nervous breakdown. Of course I set the record straight with them about me serving Natas. I told them that I ‘had too much to lose to go after them.’ They ask me why I did. And I told them the truth. They believed me. When I asked them why he hated them so much, they said that they didn’t know.

  Seeing what I was going through, and knowing that I gave up on my religion, combine that with the fact that they now know that I was innocent, they took pity on me. They did forgive me and took me under their wing. I adopted their pagan religion. But it was only in the sense of believing that there is more than one god. And not the rituals.

  My days as a warrior were over. I was just too traumatized by what happened to me in that forest. What’s more, Natas never did give me the chance to recover from that long journey home. So I became an alcoholic. It was Llyysta who gave me the idea to write that book on Natas. There’s not much left to say. So the rest... is history.”

  “I’m sorry to hear all of that Vaistll. I wished I knew what to say. I...“

  “That’s okay Alex. I’m over most of it now. It’s just one reason why I don’t like talking about my past. But I do feel better now. And thanks for listening.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “I don’t know how I can make it up to you. About you, giving up a whole day just to hear about my trouble past. But...“

  “Vaistll. I didn’t mind. You don’t have to make it up to me. You are my friend. It’s the least that I could do.”

  “Well... at least let me treat you to a drink at some bar.”

  “Okay.”

  Hearing about how troubled her past really was helped him to heal. It also help him to let go of his own troubled past. Knowing what she went through, and knowing that she made it through, gave him the strength in knowing that he too can make it.

  Ramirez knows the EOD well enough to know that Task Force ZH-3C in all likelihood is on a suicide mission. He knows that he will probably die on Golden Hyperion. And that includes most, if not all of the members of Task Force ZH-3C. None of them wants to be captured by the EOD. They all know what happen to Sanchez husband. How could they forget? Everybody in Task Force ZH-3C would rather die than to be captured. But hearing about Vaistll past helped to convince Ramirez that they can survive. It gave him the hope that the EOD can be destroyed. It just takes time. And the willingness to go through the gates of hell... to get to heaven.

  (12)

  “Alexander?” A beautiful blonde, blue-eyed woman approached Ramirez. Both Vaistll and Ramirez was playing pool at a local bar, when she approached him. Ramirez knew who it was. It was Maria Sadowayj, the woman that he thought that he lost on Nilosyrtis Prime so long ago.

  They had so much to talk about. She mentioned that she left Nilosyr
tis Prime, and went to Roscadia before all the trouble occurred on Nilosyrtis. Although she didn’t mention it, the real reason why she left was because she fell in love with him. She felt lost in knowing that there was only a small chance that he will return. So she left and never looked back. She just wanted to see him. She felt that maybe Roscadia could give her the chance that she was looking for.

  Ramirez was overcome with joy at seeing her again. Being quite grateful that she was still alive, and the fact that she wanted to be with him. It gave him something to live for. He made the decision that he will marry her when he gets back from his mission. He wanted to settle down and start a family, but not on Roscadia. He wanted to put his past behind him. But it bothered him a lot in knowing that he is marked for death.

  While both of them were traveling back to her place, he realized that his feelings are just like Vaistll when she had to confront Zell’tlaxx. And it scared him. But it also reminded him of how much he needed his best friend. If she could survive the brilliant tactics of Zell’tlaxx, then maybe he too could survive what the EOD has in store for him. But that is a big maybe.

  (13)

  It was 23:44 hours and Vaistll was back in her room at the Roosevelt. She was quite happy for Ramirez. She could tell that both of them were in love with each other. Like a good friend she wished them all of her best. But she still couldn’t help but to worry about what things may come for both her and Ramirez on Golden Hyperion.

  She spent half of her life fighting the EOD. So she had a rough idea of what to expect from them - the worst. But then again, she knew that calling it that didn’t even come close enough to what they will probably encounter.

  ‘Goddamn it. Too smart to be too ignorant. Not dumb enough not to worry.’ She thought to herself. Yes indeed it would be wise to have been ignorant of the strength of the EOD. But it also would have been stupid. It felt like what the EOD is in all likelihood - an ironic conundrum.

  ‘Goddamn the EOD. Curse you for creating this... new Dark Age. Curse you for being a...‘ She was thinking about the fact that the EOD is some new form of a government. That it was some form of a civilization.

  In the 20th and 21st century, movie makers underestimated the problems of space travel. They made it appeared that in a couple centuries, humans would travel the galaxy in a short period of time. They also created the false impression that when humans are traveling in space, all communications can travel that distance in an instance. They couldn’t have been more wrong. With the distance being as vast as they are, space colonies will end up declaring their independence sooner or later. There are talks on Roscadia calling for that very thing. It’s no wonder why there is no galactic UN.

  Vaistll is the one who came up with what she called ‘Theoretical Politics,’ back in the early part of the 21st century. It is one reason why the EOD probably went into that alternate reality back in the mid-22nd century. It is also the possible reason why they killed it off. Of course she knew that somebody, even the EOD, might end up adopting it. But she didn’t care.

  A few years after Theoretical Politics became widely accepted, a Japanese student at the University of Tokyo, solved the space colonial political paradox problem. Or SC-Triple-P for short. The paradox set certain rules that had to be followed. Namely you cannot use technology to solve the problem. No wormholes. No faster than light travel. It can only be solved using administration techniques.

  Here is the paradox: a politician was elected to serve the people of some distance space colony. That space colony lies thirty years from the Earth. Now it must be understood that years do not mean light-years, it means the length of time it takes to travel through space. The colony itself lies more than five light-years away. Now how do you solve the following political paradox?

  If the politician stays in the colony, then how can they vote on a very important bill, when they are needed in the nation’s capital? How does the politician stay in-touch with the people they are supposed to represent, when they stay in the capital? How can any bill get pass, or anything else for that matter, when the quickest way a politician can vote, is to use the limits of space communication and travel? What if a colony declared its independence? How could any leader be expected to put it down, when the colonists had decades to prepare for when the military arrives? How could any democratic nation maintain itself given those administration problems?

  That student from the University of Tokyo solved it in the most simplistic of ways. Let intelligent machines run the show. Or at least some type of a program. If a machine has only one desire, one purpose, to do its job, and you programmed it to be a good politician, what should you expect from it? If all of the mayors in one sector of space is a machine, and they all have the same program, and they all think alike, then what should you expect from them? Regardless of where they are in the universe, why would all of them reach the same conclusion?

  Despite what people thought about that solution, nobody thought much about what the EOD might think about it. Not even Project 21. The EOD has no problem in removing either a local or national politician from power. They do it all the time. So why should they care if a few politicians lost all of their power to a machine? Especially when they, the EOD, control those machines.

  When it comes to the EOD community they only cared about those politicians who reflected the values of the EOD. Not the values of the people. But at the same time, they also wanted those same politicians to show some level of concern for the people’s needs. The EOD wanted their people to live in a utopian society. Not in a dystopian one.

  When the EOD heard about the solution to that paradox, they wanted to perfect it first, and then adopt it later. And what did that meant for other nations? Not much at first, but with space colonies declaring their independence, it started to mean a lot. For the EOD it meant a lot more control over other nations. The puppet master became far stronger than ever. And it was all because politicians didn’t want to give up their hold on power.

  Because of politicians clinging on to their power, all nation states have been reduced to the equivalent of a tribe. And who is the big powerful evil civilization that will one day dominate them? It is the EOD who have become, or is becoming, a galactic civilization.

  Yes indeed it is a struggle. But only Vaistll have a clear picture of that struggle. It is no longer some struggle with a rogue agency, or some secret society anymore. It is a struggle between noble tribes and a wicked civilization. It is similar to the story about the Noble Warriors.

  A New Day

  (1)

  Monday, it was a new day for everyone on Roscadia, a day that nobody will ever forget. Two events occurred upon that day that will change everybody lives forever. The first one occurred at 13:19 hours and the second occurred much later in the day. The first created confusion for Mad Dawg, the officers of Task Force ZH-3C and their CO’s. But it was the second event that had the most dramatic effect upon everybody. It would turn out to be the event that would affect people throughout the known galaxy regardless of where they are. It didn’t matter if they are with the EOD, Project 21, neutral, or even an ET civilization. But it effected the human civilization the strongest.

  Because of the limits that outer space imposes upon space communication, the second event actually occurred several months beforehand. And because of that, it made it far worst for Task Force ZH-3C when they learned about it. Its impact upon each member of the team forced them to stand before a crossroad that would ultimately determined their life and death. Regardless of which road that they will take, they still will face a life and death struggle. One road that would lead to an honorable death, and one in which they will live the rest of their life in disgrace.

  People like Sanchez and Choy would choose the right pathway but for all the wrong reasons. For the good people, the second event would turn out to be a major setback. As for the bad people, it would turn out to be a huge opportunity. And yet, it is the EOD who would call it nothing. The EOD would call the second event nothin
g, not because they didn’t care, but for the same reason why most nations would call an earthquake nothing. People may die, but they will rebuild. Life will continue, but in a new form.

  Although the EOD will recover quite quickly from the event, they are too busy focusing upon their current plans involving Golden Hyperion. The event should be a prime opportunity for Project 21 to strike back on a grand scale. If they did, then it would prove to the EOD that Project 21 is a force to be reckoned with. If Project 21 could get far more support from nations, and then hit the EOD with every thing they got, not only would the EOD be quite shocked and surprised by it, but it would throw their plans into chaos and confusion. And if Project 21 sustained the pressure against the EOD causing them to experience one major setback after another, not only would it prove that they can be beaten, but it would expose all of the EOD weaknesses. People like Ramirez would start to come out from hiding and further weaken it. Although the EOD would not be defeated, let alone destroyed, it would prove that one day, not matter how long that may be, they will be destroyed.

  But sadly none of that will occur. Instead of the EOD having their plans thrown into chaos, confusion and ruins, it is both Project 21 and the nations that support them that will suffer that fate. The thing that will ultimately throw the human race plans into absolute pandemonium is the fact in not knowing what the Necro-Mystics will do. If the EOD could be equated to an anvil, then the Necro-Mystics would be equated to a hammer. And thus, not only Project 21, but the human race is caught between the hammer of forced conversion, and the anvil of evil.