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

by Douglas Howell

  “Clear!” Brewster yelled after he checked the inside of the APC. He then went inside to start it up and to drive it, while Caparzo manned the gun on the APC.

  “Colonel!” Caparzo yelled out. Colonel McIntyre then ran to the APC while Caparzo was shooting at the Demon X’s that was coming.

  “Floor it.” Colonel McIntyre said after he got on board the APC.

  When they got outside the building a Demon X jumped at the door of the APC and Colonel McIntyre, using his handgun, shot it. Another one came up from behind (Caparzo almost shot it), jumped and was holding on to the door frame. Colonel McIntyre then shot it’s fingers and it let go and was run over. At the same time Colonel McIntyre using his right foot kicked a button closing the door. Before the door closed a Demon X jumped at the door and it’s right arm was caught in the door. Colonel McIntyre then used the butt of his sniper rifle to club the arm until it was severed. The Demon X then stood up and was shot by Caparzo at the same time Colonel McIntyre opened the door and threw out the severed arm. He then went and sit down in the passenger seat.

  “Head north and take the freeway. Slow down when you see the first overpass.” Colonel McIntyre instructed Caparzo.

  When they got to the overpass Colonel McIntyre had Brewster drive up the embankment under the overpass. Brewster then crashed through a metal fence and hit a house.

  “Sorry.” Brewster said after he hit the house.

  “Don’t be sorry. I probably would have done the same. Just back up slowly and go through the yard. Head north across the field until you come to a road. Then head west.” Colonel McIntyre said.

  Eventually they came to the off ramp that led to the city of Wolf Creek. Colonel McIntyre instructed Brewster on how to get to the Strip. The Strip is a four lane street that ran for five miles. It had Casinos and stores on either side of it. Brewster and Caparzo knew how to get to the computer R&D lab once they get to the Strip.

  Wolf Creek is the oldest city on Golden Hyperion. Unlike the city that they came from, Wolf Creek still has people there. But with everything that has been going on, on Golden Hyperion, 68 percent of the people was forced to leave by order of High Command. They couldn’t leave the city, they had to leave Golden Hyperion. But as Green Team would learn after they arrived there, the people at Wolf Creek didn’t care that a Project 21 military unit was there. Nobody bother to ask what they were doing there. A few people asked Green Team could they take them off Golden Hyperion. Can anyone blame them when the EOD High Command basically killed the city?

  Brewster contacted Nakada and informed him of what happened when they were within range while they were on the Strip. The city looked like it was abandoned. A few times they saw someone, either a homeless person or a drug addict. One person made an obscene gesture as they pass by. Only twice did either Brewster or McIntyre see a police officer.

  “Hey everybody…” Brewster said slightly under his breath to Green Team when they got back. “…I would like to introduce you to Colonel McIntyre.”

  “Senior Ensign Nakada.” Colonel McIntyre said.

  “Yes sir.” Nakada responded.

  “Did you collect any valuable intelligence here?” Colonel McIntyre asked.

  “Yes sir.”

  “Put it in the APC. We’re leaving after I take a shower.”

  “But sir… aren’t those things nocturnal? Shouldn’t we leave at sunup?”

  “Don’t need to. We have a APC and I know a quick way to get back to the monorail station over in Bordeaux.”

  “Do you want to be debrief on the Intel that we collected here sir?”

  “No.”

  “Beg your pardon sir, but why not?”

  “Look Nakada… I’m tired. I haven’t eaten in days. As far as I am concerned my mission is over and I want to go home and be with my family.”

  “I understand that sir.”

  “No you don’t. You don’t know what I’ve been through.”

  “I can imagine sir.”

  “No you can’t. I’ve tried on several occasions to leave and head to Wolf Creek, but couldn’t. It was too dangerous. I almost lost my life three times. I lost a APC in a desperate attempt to leave. I tried to get to the shopping mall and discover that they were living there. I tried to get to the area where the monorail station is but couldn’t. It lies on the other side of a wide river and all bridges were destroyed. I should have use the APC on that run since it’s amphibious. They then attack me while I was heading back to my place of refuge. In all three cases I almost lost my life. So no… I don’t think that you can imagine what I went through Ensign.”

  “Why didn’t you swim across the river sir?”

  “And then what? My gear was in the car that I was driving. So what am I going to do without my gear when I need it in order to survive? Besides… my gear helped me to keep my sanity. It reminded me of who and what I am.”

  Colonel McIntyre left and took his shower. He felt free afterwards. Looking at himself in the mirror (after he finished shaving) reminded him that he is finally going home. It made him cry. At Nakada’s request Anderson went out and got some food for McIntyre. (The vendor told him that he can have it for free if Project 21 promises to come back and take him away from Golden Hyperion.)

  Colonel McIntyre tried to sleep on the way to the monorail station, but couldn’t. Bad memories and the thought of going home was the reason why. When they got to the monorail station and after he was introduced to Task Force ZH-3C, he went to bed. As soon as he woke up and eat breakfast, both him and Nakada debrief the officers of Task Force ZH-3C on their Intel. And at the end of that debriefing Colonel McIntyre’s mission was officially over and he can finally go home.

  (3)

  Joseph and Sayaka was on the bridge of The Hammer of Doom (Mad Dawg was there as well looking at tactical data on his so-call, “new” mission) when they got a secure communiqué from Commodore Bonfacio.

  “I just wanted to let both of you know that something strange is going on here at High Command. The Council has ordered all ships diverted away from here. They said that an attack on High Command is imminent, but I do not know of any possible threat that they may be referring to. They also ordered all communications halted, saying that High Command has been infiltrated. I don’t know if it is related or not, but there has been some type of a illness that has been spreading around here. It’s nothing too serious. It only causes a person to have a migraine, a nose bleed, and they act like they are in a trance. You know, the strange thing about it is… that it seems to target personnel in the High Command Galactic Communicational Array. I’m not talking about one building. It’s the HCGCA in general. There’s no way any of those people could have had contact with each other. I double check to make sure. I’m waiting for your further orders. This is Commodore Bonfacio. Over and out.”

  “Did he smuggle that recording out?” Mad Dawg asked.

  “Yes of course. From a safe house on a nearby moon.” Lenkov responded.

  “Which means that the last time he was at High Command was eight days before that recording was sent. It also means that he will stay there until we say otherwise.” Omori added.

  “Lieutenant North.” Lenkov said.

  “Yes sir.”

  “Send a communiqué back to Bonfacio and instruct him to go to Andromeda. Also have all of our contacts to do the same.”

  “Right away sir.”

  “Lieutenant North. How long will it take for us to receive a response from Bonfacio?” Omori asked.

  “Seven hours ma’am.”

  Fifteen minutes later they got a call from the safe house that Commodore Bonfacio was at. There was a lot commotion going on in the background of the video and the alarms were going off. They were being bombarded by a spaceship.

  “This is safe house Alpha Bird. We are under attack by a unknown EOD vessel of a unknown class. The…” There was static for ten seconds with distorted audio. “Repeat. The Bird’s family has left to new home. The Bird …” The video was in
terrupted by color static with no sound. “Repeat. The Bird has decided to leave several hours ago to… Jesus! That was close! The Bird went back to it’s cage to retrieve it’s seeds and…” The video shook violently and then the lights went out. There was nothing but static. The only thing that could be heard was, “Oh God. The Bird made a recording and instructed us to send it and…” An explosion could be heard and at the bottom of the video screen was a code that indicated that the video was interrupted and the signal was lost.

  “Look like you’re fixing to lose one of your contacts.” Mad Dawg said.

  “Not necessarily. If he went to the surface instead of the starbase, than there is a chance that he can still make it to Andromeda.” Omori responded.

  “How do you mean?” Mad Dawg asked.

  “He has a secret passageway that was built into his home. But if any pursuer were to find that secret passageway, there is another secret passageway at the bottom of a spiral stairwell which lies inside of the secret passageway. A secret passageway inside of a secret passageway. The main passageway leads to a waterfall on the property. The secondary passageway, the one at the bottom of the spiral stairwell, leads to a underground bunker. Since he lives out in the forest and he has survivor training, any pursuer must know that it would take years to find him. What’s more, the underground bunker is large enough to sustain a small resistance army.” Omori responded.

  Three hours and fifteen minutes later they received a video message from Commodore Bonfacio. He was in his office in the High Command headquarters on the surface of the planet Tyos Prime. (Tyos is an acronym in which nobody remembers what it means. They always tell people to “look it up” when asked.) Bonfacio didn’t do much talking other than give orders to those around him. He mentioned that he went back for all the Top Secret files at High Command HQ - Division: Archives. He couldn’t send it to them since the computers wouldn’t permit it. He also mentioned that he wanted a video record of what happened on Tyos Prime.

  “To the victor goes the spoils of a written history.” Lenkov said out loud after he heard why Bonfacio went there. He then looked at Mad Dawg and said, “It’s an EOD saying. It combines two sayings into one. One of which is the saying, ‘The pin is mightier than the sword.’ Basically the EOD has the belief that all history is someone else propaganda.”

  Everyone on the bridge of The Hammer of Doom stayed glued to the main viewing screen. Several videos were playing simultaneously, all of which was showing the chaos that was going on at Tyos Prime. Nobody could believe what they were seeing and hearing. The fact that the EOD could wipe out it’s own High Command. Even Mad Dawg, who’s loyalty will never change nor his view of the EOD, was shocked beyond words. He was also deeply concerned by what he was seeing. Although Sayaka was no different, she would off-and-on turn and look at Joseph. Joseph was the only one who was not fazed by what he was seeing. He was analyzing everything that he was seeing.

  When Commodore Bonfacio personnel finished collecting all the Top Secret data and stored them in a hard drive, they immediately left and went to a safe secure location. After they left the building they were greeted by a scene straight out of hell. People all over was running for their lives as they were being gunned down by EOD Robotic Fighter (aircraft) Drones. They were vehicles, some abandoned some burned, dead bodies and burned out buildings. It was in the late evening and all of the gunfire, burning vehicles and buildings, and people screaming made it all surreal.

  “Clear!” One of Bonfacio’s female personnel shouted.

  “Sir, shouldn’t we take a vehicle!? We can get there a lot faster!” One of Bonfacio’s male personnel said. He had to shout in order to be heard over the chaos.

  “No! It’s safer on foot! We can use the buildings as cover!” Bonfacio responded.

  While they were traveling to a small park they heard a transport drop-ship come. The ground forces, which were mostly police officers, SWAT, military units and anyone else with a gun, was firing at it as it was trying to land. It landed 150 yards from Bonfacio’s position. Androids then disembark from it and then went on a killing spree. The transport tried to take off but was shot out of the sky. Bonfacio and his men quickly ran into a nearby building.

  From the reports that was coming in (and their Video Receiver/Transmitter) it became obvious that the EOD androids were trying to box in the people so that they could be slaughtered. While they were at the back entrance (with a group of androids that just passed by after killing twenty people) the video went out. There was no error message which meant the main transmitter was destroyed. Ten minutes later Bonfacio sent a audio message then a video. The quality of the video was poor but the audio was good. He mentioned that they lost two of his men and one was seriously injured. He also said that they found Admiral Greene and they were on their way to rescue him.

  When they found Greene he was all alone. He was incoherent and oblivious to what was going on around him. Suffering from shock, he both delusional and confused.

  “Sir you need to come with us.” Bonfacio said to Greene.

  “My God it’s happening. The Cleansing before the Awakening. But why is the Cleansing occurring so early? And why us? It doesn’t make any sense.” Greene was saying to himself.

  “Sir, we’re here to take you to a safe place!” Bonfacio said loudly trying to get Greene’s attention.

  “It doesn’t make any sense. Unless…” Greene was saying to himself.

  “Sir you need to come with us NOW!” Bonfacio said in a demanding tone of voice.

  “That’s it. It’s all about the loose ends and…”

  “Sir!”

  Greene rocked back a little, stepped back, and then put his left hand on the left side of his forehead. He then lowered his left hand and raised his right hand and touched the blood that was coming from his nose. When he moved his right hand away and saw that he had a nosebleed his face turned white and his eyes widen with fear.

  “No! Not me!” Greene practically screamed.

  Greene, with the look like he was in horrible pain, hunched over and put his hands on both sides of his head. He then stood up with both hands in front of his face. His hands was rigid from stiffing up the muscles in his hands.

  “Get out of my head. Must… resist.” Greene said through his teeth.

  “Sir are you alright?” Bonfacio asked.

  “Too… strong. (unintelligible speech) Can’t… let… them… Must… resist.” Greene said as his nose was bleeding more profusely.

  Greene had the face of a man who is losing his battle with whatever is effecting him and he know that he can’t lose that battle. He then pulled out a gun causing everyone to pull out their gun and pointed at him. Bonfacio told Greene to put down his gun, instead Greene put the gun under his chin and pulled the trigger. Everyone stood there in stunned silence. Eight minutes later all of the video feeds went out and all of them displayed the error message.

  The fate of Commodore Bonfacio would not be known for little more than a month. In that time period he would lead a successful resistance against the EOD android army. The Council, however, decided to blame him for what went on, on Tyos Prime. Everyone outside the EOD (and a few inside) assumed what the real truth is. He would one day be vindicated for his actions on Tyos Prime, but not by the EOD, and long after he had died.

  “Look like the Council values power more than the sacred traditions of the EOD.” Mad Dawg said after all the video feeds went out.

  “I can’t believe that the Council would sink so low and do something like that.” Lieutenant North said out loud and quite disappointed at what he just witness.

  “That’s because your Council is like any other despot.” Mad Dawg responded to North’s remark.

  “Actually the Council was protecting itself.” Lenkov said shocking everyone who heard that.

  “What!?” Mad Dawg said.

  “How do you mean?” Omori asked almost at the same time that Mad Dawg spoke.

  “You have to take everything tha
t Mad Dawg told us about into account, combine with what we know about Infernus.” Lenkov responded.

  “So how does that prove that the Council is protecting itself? You know as well as I know that the EOD military if far more loyal to the Council and not to something like that of High Command.” Mad Dawg said.

  “True. But like you informed us earlier, there was an epic battle that took place sometime in the not so distance future with the Wol’ga’con Imperial Forces. You also stated that the EOD took part in that battle, but it is not known which side they were on. Do not forget what we said about Infernus. There is only one conclusion that can be drawn from it all, and what we just saw on Tyos Prime confirms it.” Lenkov said.

  “Which is?” Mad Dawg asked.

  “Judging from what you told us, combined with what we know of Infernus and what we just saw on Tyos Prime, the EOD was the first to find the Wol’ga’con Imperial Forces. Remember, someone had to find them first. So who could that be and how would they behave when they realize who, and what, the Wol’ga’cons really are?” Lenkov responded. It had a sobering effect upon everyone.

  (4)

  Colonel “Brown Dust” Durante was sitting in his office on one of the most ultra secure military base in the galaxy. The EOD military and civilian personnel called the base Omega Red after the Red Book Classification Code because every project there is automatically placed in it. All military and civilian personnel live on the base. Their families live on a moon on a nearby planet. The base itself lies on a desert moon that resembles the American southwest. Minus any black projects, the base always has an eerie quietness about it.

  Before Durante got the call to head to Andromeda he suspected something was not right. Seven days before he got the call, the EOD suspended all flights to the airbase on his base. High Command gave the orders to any ship headed there to use the gravity lift instead of the airfield. But as Durante knows the gravity lift is experimental and prone to failure. (A gravity lift can send [by “picking up”] a person and/or object to an orbiting spaceship.) The EOD, because of better funding, is between one to two decades ahead of the competition in the completion of a gravity lift. Durante suspects that the EOD is bypassing him in an effort to eliminate him. When he got the call to head to Andromeda, he realized that is what they are trying to do.