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

by Douglas Howell

  It was Commodore Bonfacio who helped to pull all of the strings to get all of Lenkov’s contacts into their positions. Those positions may help to prove their loyalty, but it also means that if the Council and/or High Command tries to remove them without just cause they will have a small armed resistance on their hands. It’s not enough to make any difference, but it’s enough to help the contacts to flee to Andromeda.

  It was Commodore Bonfacio who started it all. He was still a Commodore when Lenkov and Omori became infamous. When Lenkov proved himself as a Fleet Captain, Bonfacio was certain that Lenkov would be promoted. But when Bonfacio realized that Lenkov was not, nor could he get his promotion, Bonfacio became suspicious. He then started to investigate why Lenkov couldn’t get a promotion. It was that investigation that led Bonfacio to uncover a conspiracy (the Infernus Conspiracy).

  Bonfacio had no idea just how huge this conspiracy was. But he knew from the get-go that it involved both the Council and High Command. He decided that it would be best for him to stay where he is (He passed up several promotions.) then to be promoted out. He then found people (the contacts) just like him. People that has what he calls “twilight loyalty” – they are not absolutely loyal to the EOD nor will they betray the EOD to it’s enemies. This was also the same time period that Lenkov and Omori found Andromeda. Bonfacio told them to keep it a secret.

  All of the contacts agreed with Bonfacio that Andromeda should be kept a secret and that it should be developed. They also agreed with him that they should be placed under Lenkov and Omori’s (nobody use the word but they understood that’s what he meant) chain of command. Bonfacio had a very simple reason: Lenkov and Omori is a rising star within the EOD who deserves a lot more respect than what either the Council or High Command is giving them. Lenkov and Omori would make a damn good leader if given the chance. They could either destroy or cripple the Necro-Mystics. Everyone agreed that sooner or later the EOD would be at war with them. So it would be in the best interest of the EOD to have someone like Lenkov and Omori in the right position when that day occurs.

  Durante, now more than ever, was eternally grateful for Bonfacio for giving him his current job, even though he hated being there. When Durante got the call to head to Andromeda, he knew actually what he had to do. He sat there for a moment thinking about his plan and then he started to laugh. He was laughing because he knew that his plan would give the EOD something it never experience before. The single biggest setback of it’s entire history.

  Durante know that if Bonfacio discovered “holes” in the EOD, then linked them up creating a crack, then his plan would widen the crack causing something to break off. Sensing a wounded EOD, all of it’s enemies probably would go on the offensive. Durante know that even if the enemies of the EOD don’t take full advantage of a weaken EOD then somebody would.

  “Captain Esters, Captain Vosler, come to my office immediately.” Durante spoke through the base intercom system.

  Because of the size of the base it took Vosler fifteen minutes to get to Durante’s office. But for some reason it took Esters eight minutes longer than what it should have.

  “Took your sweet time?” Durante asked Esters who said nothing. “It’s time for us to leave.”

  “To where?” Esters asked.

  “Where do you think you moron? To Andromeda.” Durante responded.

  “Sir, we don’t have enough explosives to destroy all of the black projects.” Vosler informed Durante.

  “That’s alright. We’re going to take them with us including all of the data.” Durante responded.

  “My ship doesn’t have enough room for all of that equipment. I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to leave something behind.” Esters mentioned.

  “Under no circumstances are we to leave anything behind.” Durante responded.

  “You don’t understand, my transport doesn’t have enough room for all of that equipment. There’s no way that I can make the room.” Esters said.

  “That’s because you’re thinking about the families. We’re going to have to pick them up later.”

  “I can’t, nor will I, leave the families behind.”

  “Isn’t there a cargo vessel under your command that is nearby?”

  “You’re not suggesting that we put all of those people on a cargo vessel, are you?”

  “Just answer the question. Is there, or is there not, a cargo vessel that is nearby?”

  “Yes. But if we try to use that cargo ship to pick up our families there is a chance that a EOD military ship might intercept it.”

  “Before or after it picks up the people?” Vosler asked Esters.

  “After.” Esters responded.

  “So how long is the window before the cargo ship could give them the slip?” Durante asked.

  “Several hours to half a day.”

  “Then hurry it up, and tell the crew of that cargo ship to get their asses on the ball and pick up the people.” Durante said.

  “I can’t do that.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because of the possibility that the ship might get intercepted. And if that happens the…” Esters was saying.

  “I know what will happen. Now do as I say.”

  “You can’t order me! We’re basically the same rank!”

  Durante, upset, stood up and said, “Vosler, if he doesn’t comply… kill him.”

  “Yes sir.” Vosler said as he pulled out his handgun and pointed it at Esters.

  Esters knows, or should have known, that Durante has killed thirty six officers who were of a higher rank than he is. Durante never hesitates when he kills someone and Esters’ life is on the line. Luckily for Esters, he knows it and he knows that he better back down or he will be shot.

  “Wait! Alright I’ll comply.” Esters yelled. Vosler then holstered his weapon.

  “Make certain that he does.” Durante told Vosler.

  “I’ll put a man on him.” Vosler responded to Durante.

  “I told you that I will!” Esters said.

  “What about the gravity lift sir?” Vosler asked Durante.

  “I’ll deal with it. Just give me any men that you can spare.” Durante said.

  “Yes sir.”

  “What about your wife?” Esters asked Durante.

  “She thinks that I’m giving her permission to cheat just because it appears to her that I don’t care. It’s not that I don’t care… I just can’t kill her or whoever she’s with.” Durante said.

  “Why?” Esters asked.

  “I don’t know. I guess I never really loved her. I knew her brother before I met her. He got promoted to High Command and was sent to Tyos Prime. He’s still there. He introduced me to her and we later got married. I guess she wanted to marry me because she thought that I might get promoted to High Command. You know the old saying, ‘High Command equals high life,’ and that’s what she wanted. When she realized that I would never get promoted to High Command she verbally abused me. Saying that I was, ‘nothing but a nogoodnik who would never amount to anything.’ And yet, I could have kill her and High Command wouldn’t have cared. Her brother couldn’t do a damn thing about it even if I did. High Command valued me as their… hit man.” Durante responded.

  “So why didn’t you divorced her?” Vosler asked.

  “Because staying married to her was a form of revenge.”

  “How’s that?” Vosler asked.

  “You know what would happen if she divorced me. (The EOD values those who serve. She would not have much left to her name.) But if I’d divorced her that would be a different story.”

  “So staying married to her is a way to deprive her of the opportunity to live the high life.” Esters said.

  “Right.” Durante responded.

  “So what DO you want to do with her wife?” Esters asked.

  “Give her, her freedom. Leave her.” Durante responded. Both Esters and Vosler knew that when the EOD learns of his betrayal, they will assume that she is the cause of it by her
cheating on him – a death sentence for her.

  “How does Shannon feel about that?” Vosler asked referring to Durante’s mistress.

  “She doesn’t care. You know, she once talked me into introducing her to Elizabeth (Durante’s wife).” Durante responded.

  “Really? How’d that go? And why would she want to meet her?” Esters asked.

  “After we left I asked Shannon that and she said, ‘to let her know that she got some competition.’”

  “So what did Elizabeth do?” Vosler asked.

  “Nothing because she didn’t care.” Durante said. “Time to leave this place.” He said after several moments passed by.

  Esters went back to his ship sending cargo drop-ships here or there to pick up all black projects and any equipment that needed to be taken. He had to get rid of all of his cargo drop-ships to accommodate for the extra cargo. There was so much to carry that every bit of the cargo hold was used accept for the area to allow one personnel drop-ship to dock.

  For the next several minutes Durante took all of his files that were classified and moved them to a hard drive. He then placed the hard drive in a briefcase, left his office and headed over to Archives. At Archives he moved all the files to a much larger hard drive. Durante along with six other people, spent the next eight hours moving all classified material to the 30 pound hard drive.

  “I thought that you might be in here.” Shannon said to Durante.

  Shannon Garrett is a very beautiful woman with brown hair and blue eyes. She has two prosthetic legs but she doesn’t know how she lost both of her legs. Durante’s wife negative behavior, combine with his job, caused him to slipped into depression and drink. In time, he surrendered to his fate and became what he called “numb.” Then one day he got a lucky break.

  His break came in the form of the war with the Necro-Mystics. Although the EOD stayed out of the war, they used it as a opportunity to expand their empire. High Command decided that Durante should be used to “evaluate” worlds for possible inclusion into the EOD empire. What that meant was that he had to go to those worlds and see if they had any value to the EOD. If so, what type of value. If they had value than by any means necessary they had to be either brought into the EOD empire, or to make it useless to anyone else. Because Durante had already surrender to his fate, he did his job a little too well. (It’s where he got his nickname from.)

  Durante did a lot of traveling during that time and on one occasion he found a abandoned Necro-Mystic transport. Most of the time he would have ignored it since the Necro-Mystic transports didn’t carry anything of value on board. But this time it was different. Acting on a hunch he decided to go on board and have a look. (Nobody said anything because it satisfied their curiosity.)

  The ship was dark with low lighting. The cargo that it was carrying was naked human females. (The Necro-Mystics did that to humiliate women. They know how women are concerning their looks.) All of the women were dead. There was no evidence to suggest that the Necro-Mystics killed them. The evidence suggested that the Necro-Mystics ran out of the drugs that controlled them. (Space Core made it a practice to destroy any Necro-Mystic ship that they suspected of carrying those drugs because they knew that if the Necro-Mystics suffered from withdrawal symptoms they will mutiny.) Some of the women were incased in ice inside of their cryo-chambers. (Water must have leaked into the chamber.) Some of the bodies were lying on the ground covered in blood. (Necro-Mystic blood was red.) The head and upper torso of one body was lying in the chamber of another. From the smell and the state of condition of the bodies it could be determined that what occurred must have taken place between four to six weeks prior.

  While they were traveling down a darken hallway (the door that led to it was the only one that was still working in that area) Durante’s flashlight caught the backside of a woman’s body. He could tell that she had no legs and she was covered in blood. He, like the others, mistook her for dead and they carried on. While they were walking away they heard a sound that came from the body. When they turned and look they saw the body sitting up. Realizing that they had a survivor, Durante had the ship searched for more survivors which there were none.

  Everyone was amazed that she was still alive. Beyond all hope she somehow managed to survive her ordeal. But when Durante questioned her about who she is, she couldn’t remember. The doctor than told him that she has scars on her head that is a clear indication that the Necro-Mystics either blocked or erase part of her memories. The only memories that she had was of the time she spent on that ship. (The Necro-Mystics only block or erase someone’s memories when that person endured something so traumatic that they can no longer function in society.)

  Durante spent a lot of time with her as she was recovering from her ordeal. She taught him all that she knew about the Necro-Mystics and he told her how his wife treats him. Durante suggested to her that she should start with each letter in the alphabet, think about all the female names that start with that letter, and the one that lives in her head the longest could be her name. (Her name came from a dream that she had after he said that.) Both of them fell in love with each other.

  Shannon became the sole reason why he became a thinking killer. When Bonfacio recognized that he decided to keep them together at great risk to his career. But High Command never found out. Even if they did find out they wouldn’t have cared since they had something far more important to care about and they wanted to keep Bonfacio and Durante where they are.

  “Did Vosler tell you that we’re leaving to Andromeda?” Durante asked her.

  “Of course. He’d also mentioned that you’re going to go over to the gravity lift.”

  “You’re staying.”

  “Why? What, are you afraid that something might happen to me? Well… I’m going with you.”

  “Why do you want to go?”

  “In case you haven’t notice it’s boring around here. And besides… I’m might get to see some action.”

  “Yeah, and that’s why you’re staying.”

  “I’m going whether you like it or not.”

  “Shannon please. I don’t feel like arguing over this.”

  “Remember when you told me that you had a hunch and that’s why you went on board that Necro-Mystic ship and rescued me?”

  “Yeah, what about it?”

  “I have a hunch that I should go.”

  “Alright, you can go. How can I resist you?” Durante said with a smile.

  “Simple. You can’t.” Shannon said with a smile.

  “You do know that we’re not taking Elizabeth, don’t you?”

  “Vosler told me. Does this mean that you’re going to marry me?” She said with a smile.

  “Like I said, ‘how can I resist you’?” He said with a smile. It caused her to laugh affectionately and then she kissed him. He then took off his wedding ring and drop it on the floor.

  “I finally get to marry my hero. Hmmm…. Shannon Durante. I like the way that sounds.” She said with a very big smile.

  Twenty-two minutes later Vosler came in. Shannon turned to him and with a big smile said, “He’s marrying me.”

  “I kind of figured that he would.” Vosler responded.

  “What’s up?” Durante asked Vosler.

  “Esters said that the ship is full. It can hold the gravity lift, but that depends upon it’s size.”

  “How big does it have to be?” Shannon asked.

  “No larger than a personnel type of a drop-ship.”

  “Did he say anything else?” Durante asked.

  “Only that his ship can carry, and can only carry, two personnel type of a drop-ship.”

  “Well… let’s go retrieve that gravity lift then.” Durante said.

  Durante, Shannon, Vosler and twelve military personnel left in a truck convoy and headed over to the gravity lift. It was in the late evening and they had a little more than thirty-six hours of darkness. They headed west out of the base and then headed south. After they traveled for a few miles
they came to a upside down and reverse y shaped intersection. As difficult as the turn was, they needed to take it. The road went up a rock embankment with a rock face on the west side of the road. While the road headed west there was either a high rock face and/or a rock cliff on either side of the road. At one point the road ran under a natural rock bridge. The road then headed north for two miles and came to a crater at the end of a dead end. The gravity lift was at the bottom of the crater, which was 500 feet deep and a few miles across. There was a 50 story building in the crater. The building (a laboratory) was 300 feet from the southern rim of the crater. On top of the building was a bridge that ran from the roof to the southern rim. There was also a sniper tower on top of the building. (Durante knows that the tower is never occupied.) Both the building and the tower blocked the view of the gravity lift which was on the north side of the building.

  When they got inside the building they were in the lobby. They then went to the security station and was expecting someone would be there, but there wasn’t. They knew that there should be at least four personnel in the video monitoring station with one supervisor, two armed guards, and three supervisors in communications. They knew that it was not dereliction of duty so someone had to order all of them out. And the only person who could do that is someone from High Command.

  “Shouldn’t there be someone in here?” Shannon asked them.

  “Of course. But from the looks of it they are getting close to getting rid of us.” Durante responded.

  They then went down a couple of stories to the Conference Room. They were not expecting anyone to be in there and there wasn’t. They went there in search of a map of the building. Shannon went to the conference table and access a computer.