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

by Douglas Howell

  “Wait. Now hold on for a minute. What do you mean by ‘rough and hard’? Just what are the two of you going to do to me?”

  “Parker… time is critical and we don’t have time standing around here arguing over this. She needs all the time right now to do her job. So please do not disturb her. Do not argue with us further. Help us to do our part so we can help you be with whom you wish. Understand?” La’jyn’eu said.

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Now Mynik’ny’nuta needs to accelerate the cloning process so that the clone can grow faster. I need help in getting some supplies.”

  “And I told you that Project 21…”

  “I heard you the first time!” La’jyn’eu snapped back.

  “You didn’t let me finished.”

  “Parker… you are trying my patience. Now shut up! And do exactly as we say! And not another word from you! Got it? I said GOT IT!?” La’jyn’eu said. He was getting upset with Parker.

  “Yeah I got it!”

  “Parker, come here. I need to get a sample of your DNA.” Mynik’ny’nuta said. She had him open his mouth as she put a cotton swab in it.

  “Lock the door when you leave Parker.” She added.

  Parker helped La’jyn’eu to collect the supplies that he needed and put them in the trunk of Parker’s car. Before they were done Mynik’ny’nuta asked Parker to come to her.

  “Go. I can finish up here.” La’jyn’eu told him.

  When Parker got back to the cloning facility, she was washing her hands.

  “What did you wanted?”

  “I need a secure incubator to put this clone in.”

  “You can store it in here.” Parker said. He tired to show her where but she grabbed his arm.

  “Let me rephrase myself. What I meant to say was, show me how to manually put in the storage code for the incubator.” She said letting go of his arm.

  “Well I can do that.”

  She then reached out and grabbed him by the arm, tighter, this time.

  “If you do… Project 21 would know that you did. The buttons have a nano-security device on it. If you touch it… gloves or no gloves… they would have your DNA and therefore know that you did it. That would undermine our plans. My nano-suit will not allow my DNA to be extracted. So I need you to tell me how to manually put in the code.” She said once again letting go of Parker’s arm.

  Parker then showed her how to put in the code. She then told him to go out there and tell La’jyn’eu that she’s done, and that she sped up the cloning process by 55%. Parker left and did as she said. Later she came out and they went back to Parker’s house. Once again, La’jyn’eu drove the car, but this time he drove at the speed limit. Much to Parker’s relief, La’jyn’eu listen to smooth jazz. Parker didn’t care too much for the music, but to him it was better than heavy metal. Maybe now both of them can finally give him some peace and quiet. He hoped.

  (10)

  Wednesday, Admiral Lowenthal just got the message that she’d hoped will never come. She received the message after 18:00 hours: the mayor of Roscadia (including seven bodyguards) was murdered. But that’s not the worst of it. Someone sneaked aboard Starbase 231. They sabotage the sensors. Killed ten crewmembers, and erase the security logs. Maintenance said that they would not be able to have the sensors up and running until Sunday, at the least.

  Lowenthal sit back deep within her seat when she heard all of that. Her stomach was starting to turn into a knot with the fear rising within her. She knew that they were dealing with a professional with exceptional skills for them to be able to pull that off. The only group of people with professionals like that is the EOD.

  But there is still one thing that troubles her. Either the EOD took the time, money and effort to train this person to a very high degree (a rarity) or they are dealing with someone who is at least 200 years old. There is only two ways that a person could be 200 years old: one; a cyborg and two; a clone. The problem with it being a cyborg is this: all cyborg can be detected on Starbase 231. The problem with it being a clone is this: the EOD has never used them like that before.

  Yes of course it is La’jyn’eu who did that. Only two people in all likelihood will be the only ones who will ever know that. Parker’s plan is coming true in ways in which he could never have guess. He feels at peace. The only thing that his plan has done is to slow down the Project 21 investigators and when they are done, they are still going to go after him.

  The only good thing that occurred that nobody would know about is this: it created confusion and doubt in the minds of the Task Force ZH-3C members who wanted to go home. They are starting to think that maybe Bryce is right: ‘If you run in the face of evil… you will only bring it home with you. And by doing that… you will dishonor those whom you love.’ For each one of them the death of the mayor, and what happen on Starbase 231, is a rude awaking. Perhaps there is still a chance of hope.

  (11)

  It was late evening and La’jyn’eu just got back. Parker decided to order out sense La’jyn’eu refused to eat anything that was cooked by Mynik’ny’nuta. Although Parker eat the food that she cooked, and said that it was delicious, La’jyn’eu said that he would rather starve to death than eat her food. He was acting that way out of distrust of her. He actually took the jar of Liquid Death with him when he killed the mayor and sabotage Starbase 231. He hates her because of what she has in her and what she can do to the galaxy.

  “It must have been easy for you to kill humans.” Parker mentioned, trying to strike up a conversion with La’jyn’eu.

  “What the fuck are you talking about Parker?”

  “What I meant is, that as an extraterrestrial it must be easy to kill humans.”

  “Where did you hear that from?”

  “I think that some psychiatrist said it.”

  “Then whoever said it is full of shit. I do not know about other extraterrestrials, but it all comes down to how an individual of one species, perceives another individual of a separate species. When it comes to me, I see them as a person who is doing their job as I am doing mine.”

  “Well… I’m going to bed.” Parker said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.

  “At 21:15?”

  “Yeah… tomorrow’s a big day for each of us and I want to get plenty of sleep.”

  Parker got up and went to bed. He slept soundly that night. He would later wake up at 06:04 hours, the next morning to begin his new life. What he didn’t know is that when La’jyn’eu said that he has to do something to him that will be ‘rough and hard,’ in part it dealt with his clone. Parker should be far more concerned about why they don’t care about the fact that Project 21 has the technology to tell the difference between him and his clone. No matter. Admiral Lowenthal will arrive at 14:50 hours, and around about that time Parker will learn the hard way why they don’t care about the technology to tell the difference between him and his clone.

  “We need to talk.” La’jyn’eu told Mynik’ny’nuta.

  “I was wondering when you were going to mention that.”

  She was in the kitchen finishing washing the dishes. La’jyn’eu came in and threw a pizza box in the garbage and then washed his hands. She was waiting for him at the kitchen table. When he was done, he came and sat down at the table.

  “How much longer are you going to put up this charade?”

  “Why would you think that all that I am doing is a charade? Is it your hatred of me because of what I have in me? You know that’s not my fault.”

  “That’s not what I asked you.”

  “Then why do you think that this is a charade? You won’t trust me no matter what I say. So how can I answer your question when you will take anything that I say as a lie.”

  “Then answer me this: who controls whom? Does the symbiote controls you Mynik’ny’nuta, or do you control it?”

  “You already know the answer. What do you want me to say, that I am a slave to it? That I am some type of a monster. Is that the only thing that you wan
t to hear? Is it what you want to believe… as the truth, or is it true? I can use the same argument on you. Do you control the symbiote in you, or is it the other way around La’jyn’eu?”

  “Don’t you know? You don’t, do you? Of course not. How could you? Is it something that you don’t want to realize? Or maybe the symbiote don’t want you to know. You are supposed to be some type of a super-genius with an IQ that is impossibility high. So you should know.”

  “Refresh my memory.” She said with eyes that wanted to consume him.

  “I died once and this symbiote died twice.”

  “So.” Her voice changed a little.

  “When I died I didn’t come back in my original body.”

  “So what does that have to do with anything?”

  “I… died… and… came back.”

  “So what?”

  “Aren’t you curious about what I saw and experience? Aren’t you in the slightest bit curious if the Tylkuoply hive even have a soul? It doesn’t.”

  “We do too have a soul!” Her voice changed even further.

  “Struck a nerve did I? Let me guess, you DON’T want to know what I seen and experience do you? Of course not. You’re afraid to know. Aren’t you?”

  “Then tell me!” She said with a cold look in her eyes.

  From that point forward, Mynik’ny’nuta was no longer talking like a normal person. Her voice was influenced by the symbiote within her. She was using the synood’tynd as a tongue. It came out when she spoke certain syllables. Her eyes changed color to a dark yellow. She was far more of a Xynx’nyuo than an Apollinarian at that point. La’jyn’eu remained calm and in control of himself. She didn’t scare him. He is smart enough to know what she will do.

  “The last thing that I remember was: standing in front of the last Hau’rino cell. It just finished putting a symbiote in me. Before it was done, I put my hands on it. I regurgitate a capsule that I had swallowed earlier. When the symbiote was in me, I bite down on the capsule breaking it open, and then swallowed the capsule again. I didn’t have time to react. An implanted device in both of my arms, activated when I re-swallowed the capsule. The device rip open both of my arms from my elbow to my wrist. A poison dart came out of the palms in my hands and into the cell killing it.

  I then fell forward dying. When I hit the ground, I turned my head to the left. I saw my teammates coming in to recover my body. (The Xynx’nyuo would have retreated to defend another cell.) My body then went into shock and I died.

  I felt my body slowly rising. I felt free… of the hive. I then went into darkness. I felt a wind blowing all around me. It made me feel happy. I could hear someone talking to me, but I can’t remember what they said. Don’t you see Mynik’ny’nuta… I was in the breath of God. I was dead. I was in the afterlife. I then felt my body coming down. When I woke up… and sat up… I saw Parker.”

  “That proves nothing. And what does any of that have to do with us not having a soul?”

  “Simple. I never felt rather or not the symbiote had a soul. Therefore, in all likelihood it didn’t have a soul.”

  “Lies!” Mynik’ny’nuta shouted and stood up rapidly.

  “Then explain this.”

  He then pulled up his arm sleeves, lifted his arms, and showed her a red streak that ran down his arms from the elbow to his wrist. In the palms of his hands there were a red round mark.

  “That means nothing!” She yelled out with intense hatred in her eyes.

  “It means, that what is in that jar is something far more than just Liquid Death. It is the God of Death and Resurrection. For only a god can resurrected the dead. To do what was done to me. I think I know what I am talking about. I was in the afterlife. God talk to me. I felt nothing when it came to the soul of the symbiote. Did the symbiote have a soul? No.”

  “You are trying my patience!” Mynik’ny’nuta said.

  Strange noises were coming out of her, both before and after she said that. It has been said that those who the hive consumes, die in the metaphorical sense, and that applies to Mynik’ny’nuta. La’jyn’eu knows that the only way to expose her true colors is to do what he is doing. He knows that the hive can dictate what personality of a person to show to people. And for Mynik’ny’nuta she was driven insane by all that she went through back on their home world.

  “Come now… you know our skills are near equal. That there is a chance that I could kill you. But the symbiote within you… will not let you take that chance.”

  She then laughed in an unnatural way and said. “And what of you? Who controls whom? You or your symbiote?” Her insanity was coming through loud and clear.

  Mynik’ny’nuta’s mind was twisted by all that she went through. She lost her family. The man that she loved so very deeply became cold and distance. He was possessed with destroying the hive at all cost. Even if it meant ruining their marriage. She had the constant fear of being captured. The shock and horror of the Tylkuoply war. The tremendous lost of life. It all played upon her sanity. And then… she was captured. Who wouldn’t be driven insane if they went through all of that?

  “I do. You killed the symbiote within me.” La’jyn’eu said.

  “Lies! It’s all lies!” Although her rage was growing, the symbiote would not let her act upon it.

  “Is it?”

  “Yes, you foolish little…!” She then said something that was unintelligible.

  “Thank about it. When you said that Little John must ‘sleep within the darkness,’ you never said anything about the symbiote. Therefore you killed it. Breaking a cardinal rule of the hive.”

  “No I didn’t!” Mynik’ny’nuta’s head was twitching with insanity.

  “Yes you did and you know it. And when you said that I must ‘awaken within the light,’ you still said nothing about the symbiote within me. Therefore you killed it again. But the only reason why it lives… is because I’m alive. Which means you broke another cardinal rule of the hive.”

  “No!” She then started to say something that was unintelligible.

  She fell to her knees. Her eyes went back and forth wildly and then started to twitch uncontrollably. Her synood’tynd came out of her mouth, and went back in repeatedly. Her hands came up and was shaking. Her facial muscles and her head was twitching. All the while something unintelligible was coming from her.

  La’jyn’eu got up and went around the table to where she was. He then started to speak in their native tongue. It was his way of talking to her and not the symbiote.

  “I’m sorry for everything that you are going through. But please don’t fear the reaper. He will give you peace. For the divine does not punish those who have no free will. Perhaps late tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, you will be free. It is my way of saying thank you. Thank you for bringing me back. Thank you for giving me the chance to give our people a second chance. We will never forget you Mynik’ny’nuta Ydxx’od’omaa.”

  (12)

  It was 07:33 hours, Thursday morning, and Ramirez just arrived at Starbase 231 Command Center: Security Division. He would have come on Wednesday but the security on the starbase was looking for the infiltrator. Ramirez came to provide expert analyze on who the infiltrator could be working for. He sat there until 09:41 hours analyzing the video. At 09:41 he had seen enough.

  “Send the following message to Admiral Lowenthal, Captain Adnrwal and Captain Mad Dawg right away. I finished analyzing the security data on Starbase 231. I can not determine which agency the infiltrator is working for. I have counted no less than four incidents of where the infiltrator used some type of a death punch. For matter of reference, the infiltrator used both the Hikuta punch and the Ninja death punch. From my observation, there is a strong possibility that the infiltrator had a minimum of one year, to 18 months, of training. Whoever this individual is, he is lethal to the extreme. I strongly recommend that Starbase 231, Galactic Prime and New Horizon be placed on Red Alert.”

  Ramirez report had a chilling effect upon all the officers who rea
d it. The EOD trained an infiltrator for 18 months? As they would think. That is so rare that it could be the first time that they ever did that. The longest that any nation (including Project 21 and the EOD) trains any of their people is eight weeks. There is an additional eight weeks if they get training in the Special Forces. Four months total. But to be trained for 18 months?

  What got all of those officers (including Ramirez) so worried about the infiltrator is, the possible connection to Golden Hyperion. They know something huge must be going on there. Or something to important to lose. Some of them would think that maybe, just maybe, the EOD Central Command & Control Headquarters could be there. ‘Take it out… and maybe we can capture, or kill, some big wigs. A knock out punch of their Continuance of Governance.’ As they would say.

  Although that is far from the truth, there is a positive side effect. When Lowenthal read Ramirez report, she upgraded Task Force ZH-3C Standing Order to Priority Handle: Critical. It told the team that they WILL face a court marshal if they DON’T go on their mission. Priority Handle: Critical is right below that of Priority Handle: Severe which states that they WILL be shot if they DON’T go on their mission. Priority Handle: Severe is the highest of such orders.

  For each of the team members who wanted to go home the order, not only calmed them down, but it forced them to re-think about going home. Ensign Liebowitz, Crewman Hoffneisten, Warrant Officer Brewster, Crewman First Class Mendoza, Crewwoman First Class Venito and Chief Petty Officer Coté made the decision to go without telling anyone.

  (13)

  It was 17:50 hours, and Commodore Parker, Mynik’ny’nuta and Double Shock just arrived at the cloning facility at Project 21 HQ. Everybody had already left for the day. Parker watched as he saw La’jyn’eu use a loader to take out the cryo-chamber with Parker’s clone in it.