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

by Douglas Howell

  “Sir, let me take you to sickbay.” 2nd Lieutenant Keane said after everyone left.

  “No! I need to activate the Lacrima Mortis Plasma Gun.” Dawson said gritting through the pain.

  “Sir, you’re not thinking straight.”

  “To hell I’m not!”

  “Sir. If you attempt to use the communicational array here… the stealth features will faze out for 1.4 seconds. If anyone on the, The Hammer of Doom is monitoring the area, and in all likelihood they are, and if they are quick enough, they could destroy this base with one shot.”

  “We can escape on the stealth helicopter! I can still activate the gun remotely from the helicopter!” Dawson said with sweat running down his face from the pain.

  “Sir, this base uses a Type 4 stealth shield and it will not allow a transmission to be sent from inside, nor will it receive a transmission from the outside. Everything is sent through a landline.”

  “We have to activate that goddamn gun!” Dawson almost screamed at Keane.

  “I know that sir. If you are willing to wait a few days then I could rig a timer on the control panel to allow a delay of signal. It should give us enough time to escape.” Keane said calmly.

  “How much time would we have to escape?” Dawson finally said in normal tone of voice.

  “Three minutes tops.”

  “That’s hardly enough time to make it back to the helicopter.”

  “Sir, there is an elevator near the communicational array that leads to a tunnel which leads to a bus terminal in Wolf Creek. The tunnel has a car in it and we should be halfway out of the tunnel when the signal is sent.”

  “Alright. But this better work Keane.” Captain Dawson sternly said.

  Keane didn’t respond, he only motion for Dawson to follow him to sickbay which Dawson did. 2nd Lieutenant Keane spent the next four days preparing the communicational array to allow a delay of signal. What took him so long was the fact that if he’d made a mistake the stealth feature of the base would have been disable. When he was finished and the gun was activated it gave the senior officers of The Hammer of Doom a rude awakening.

  (3)

  For the first time since Mad Dawg was on The Hammer of Doom he made an unannounced visit on the bridge. The guards didn’t do anything other than announce his presence, which caused everyone to turn and look at him. Mad Dawg then headed over to where Lenkov and Omori was sitting. Omori was sitting on Lenkov right side as she always does. Which is one reason why Lenkov calls her his, “right hand girl.”

  “We need to talk sir.” Mad Dawg said to Lenkov. Mad Dawg was standing on Lenkov left side.

  “About what?” Lenkov asked.

  “Why is it that there are too few personnel guarding Dawson’s captured men, sir?”

  “Why do you think?”

  “I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking you sir.”

  “You must have an idea.”

  “Why won’t you tell me sir?”

  “You’re a capable officer. So you should have a good idea as to why that is. So, you tell me.” Lenkov responded. Mad Dawg didn’t like the fact that Lenkov will not tell him. He fear for the safety of his personnel.

  “You’re not going to send anybody down there, are you?” Mad Dawg said with deep concern for his personnel.

  “But…?”

  “But what?”

  “We’re building up the defenses.” Lenkov responded.

  “Y-Y-You mean you’re expecting Dawson to counter-attack and you won’t send more troops down there!? Aw hell no! My boys will be slaughtered!”

  “And so will mine captain! There are more of my people down there than yours.”

  “Then why don’t you send more troops!?” Mad Dawg yelled.

  “Dawson is still a threat. He shouldn’t have gotten away…” Lenkov was saying.

  “That wasn’t my fault! What, you’re doing this because you think that I let him get away!? I couldn’t help it!” Mad Dawg yelled.

  “I know that captain! It’s war! Mistakes like that happens! Nobody is blaming you!” Lenkov yelled back at him.

  “Then why won’t you send more troops sir?” Mad Dawg said calmly.

  “I’ll tell you when have absolutely calmed yourself down.” Lenkov said in a normal tone of voice.

  “I am calmed down sir.” Mad Dawg responded.

  Lenkov didn’t say anything, he only gave Mad Dawg a stern look and pointed at him with his right hand. Lenkov stopped pointing at him when he could tell that Mad Dawg had calmed himself down.

  “You come from a society…” Lenkov was saying. “… that considers itself to be a culture of life. Those of us in the EOD comes from a society that is based upon a culture of heroes. Those who die for their community, for their friends, for their… loved ones. Your society puts emphasis upon saving a life, while the EOD puts emphasis upon why a person dies. Both of our societies do, however, share one thing in common.”

  “Which is?” Mad Dawg asked.

  “The desire to save the life of a friend, a fellow combatant. If… And that’s a big if. If, Dawson were to attack that base, than how many of his personnel do you think he would lose? Too many. Yes he will overrun the base. Yes he will kill everyone there, especially my people. But know this, and know it well… when the battle is over and he has time to assess the situation… whether he does it literally or not, he would have committed suicide. For whatever is left of his forces will be far too weak to ever challenge us again.” Lenkov responded.

  “Do you know what a ghost order is captain?” Omori asked Mad Dawg.

  “Sort of. Maybe. Why do you ask?” Mad Dawg responded.

  “A ghost order is a unwritten verbal only order that is considered higher than that of the Red Book Classification Code: Omega X. Did you know that there is a hidden order within the Classification Code?” Omori said.

  “No. What is it?” Mad Dawg responded.

  “It’s a ghost order. Take the first letter in the first word in each of the Classification Code and you get something in Japanese – Omae o korosu. Do you know what that means?”

  “No I don’t speak Japanese.”

  “It means: ‘I will kill you.’ Now do you have better idea on the ghost order?” Omori asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Then understand that whenever an Omega X is given there will be, without question, there will be a ghost order behind it.” Omori said.

  “So you see captain, we need to get him to reveal what those ghost orders are at all cost. For the past four days he allowed his subordinates to round up his personnel and take them to a base with military vehicles. So if we were to send more troops down there, what do you think would happen to them?” Lenkov asked Mad Dawg.

  “They will be killed.” Mad Dawg responded.

  “Then how many SHOULD we send down there? And who should we send?” Lenkov asked. “That’s right. The ones who are already down there.” Lenkov added when Mad Dawg didn’t respond.

  Twelve minutes later the signal from the stealth base was sent. And as Keane suspected The Hammer of Doom hit it with one shot. Unfortunately for Keane it was a EMP shot which only knocked out the shields. Both Dawson and Keane was in the tunnel at the time and both of them was expecting some type of fire to be chasing them. When they got out of the tunnel Dawson had Keane drive (they found a car at the bus terminal) near enough to see the base. Dawson, who got out, had Keane drive there and destroy the Communicational Array and the computer console that controls the array. When Keane got back he said that he couldn’t destroy it because a couple of drop-ships from The Hammer of Doom was in the process of landing and he didn’t have enough time to carry out his orders. Dawson, who was standing outside the car on the driver side, pulled out a gun and shot and killed Keane. The only thing that Dawson said after he shot Keane was, “If you knew what I know, then you would understand why it was for the best.” With that, Dawson pulled Keane’s lifeless body out of the car and, to the best of his abilities, drove to A10-36D.<
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  “Sir! Take a look at the viewer!” A Ensign said out loud. He then pushed a button showing that those three black structures in Ishtar’s atmosphere started to power up and moved into the upper atmosphere. While it was powering up, Omori came near to the Flight Control Officer’s position, she then moved the ship to a safe distance on Golden Hyperion’s blind side in relation to those black structures. She also launched a space probe so that they could continuously monitor those black structures.

  “Ma’am, what are you doing?” The Flight Control Officer asked Omori.

  “I need you to maintain this position. Stay away from those structures in Ishtar’s atmosphere. Do you understand?” Omori said to Flight Control Officer.

  “Yes ma’am. What are they?” The Flight Control Officer asked her.

  “I have no idea. Let’s just play it safe for now.” Omori responded. She then returned back to her seat.

  Captain Maxwell then order the crew on Galactic Prime to do the same. One of the engineering staff asked the captain if he was crazy since Galactic Prime’s engines weren’t design to do such a thing and it would put too much of a strain upon them. Maxwell then ordered them to do as they are told.

  “We should have our crew on Galactic Prime to return back here.” Omori said to Lenkov.

  “They’re needed to maintain orbit.” Lenkov responded.

  “I know. But I was thinking that I could create a program that could allow us to remote control the ship from here.”

  “What about manual input?”

  “We could have our engineering staff over there create a robot that could do it.”

  “Yeah alright.” Lenkov responded.

  Omori then contacted the engineering staff on Galactic Prime and ordered them to create those robots. When she was done speaking to them (and cussing at them in Japanese since they were complaining about the extra work load) she left to create the remote control program for Galactic Prime. It took the engineering staff five hours to create the robots and additional three hours to put them into place. For Omori it took her six hours to complete the program. The engineering staff left Galactic Prime after they moved the ship into position over Golden Hyperion.

  “This is Senior Ensign Rogetti.” Rogetti was calling from the stealth base. His orders were to secure the base and search for Intel, then to report back.

  “Go ahead.” The officer on duty responded.

  “We’ve just finished acquiring the Intel. I will now download it to you.”

  “Alright Senior Ensign Rogetti. Over and out.” The bridge officer responded. She then informed Maxwell who, in return, inform Lenkov.

  “Do you think we should inform our guests?” Maxwell asked Lenkov.

  “Analyze the data and then, based upon that data, then we will make the decision to inform them or not.” Lenkov responded.

  After the data was analyzed they realize that they had no other choice but to inform their guests. The Intelligence Officer who analyze the data, took the findings to Captain Maxwell who immediately took the data to inform Lenkov and Omori.

  “Do you think we should inform our guests?” Maxwell asked Lenkov and Omori. The three of them were in the Conference Room. They decided to look at the Intel first (it’s not the only time that they did that) before they made decision to inform their guests.

  “Let’s see Mad Dawg first.” Lenkov said to Maxwell.

  “What about Task Force ZH-3C?” Maxwell asked.

  “No. In order to control them we need to create, within their minds, that we are in absolute control of the situation. It would be counter-productive if they were to find out.” Lenkov responded.

  “Captain Burton, please come to the Conference Room immediately.” Captain Maxwell said over the intercom.

  “What did you want to see me about?” Mad Dawg asked when he got to the Conference Room.

  “Please sit.” Omori instructed him.

  “What we are going to tell you is considered Top Secret and cannot leave this room.” Lenkov ordered Mad Dawg.

  “I understand sir.” Mad Dawg responded.

  “Do you know what lacrima mortis means?” Omori asked.

  “Yes, it Latin for tear of death. Why do you ask?” Mad Dawg responded.

  “Do you have any idea as to what a Lacrima Mortis Plasma Gun is?” Omori asked.

  “No ma’am.” Mad Dawg responded.

  “Those three structures in Ishtar’s atmosphere is part of the Lacrima Mortis Plasma Gun. It’s using both the planet’s magnetic field and the gas within it’s atmosphere to create a massive plasma gun.” Lenkov said.

  “How powerful is it sir?” Mad Dawg asked.

  “We don’t know. There was nothing in the intelligence report that mentioned how powerful it is. But there is one way for us to find out.” Omori said.

  “It needs to shoot at something. Something very large. A moving target.” Lenkov added. Mad Dawg knew what he meant and it felt like someone just punched him in the gut.

  “Just give me a bottle of brandy and we can call it square.” Mad Dawg said slightly under his breath. He knew that they were going to use his ship as target practice and if the shoe was on the other foot he would have done the same. It deeply sadden him to know his ship is going to be destroyed.

  “Done.” Lenkov responded.

  “There is something else that you should know about the LMPG.” Omori said.

  “What is it ma’am?” Mad Dawg asked.

  “Although the stealth base can activate/deactivate the LMPG, the same can be done in one of the core tunnels. Any attempt to deactivate it can be overridden by the other. We can’t leave until the LMPG is permanently disable. Or at least the transmitter for the core tunnel is knocked out.” Omori said.

  “I understand. What do you want me to do?” Mad Dawg said.

  “Do you feel up to the challenge of taking out the transmitter for the core tunnel?” Lenkov asked.

  “Yes sir.” Mad Dawg responded.

  “We have no Intel on where the transmitter is, so the Communicational Array in the core tunnel must be destroyed at all cost. Or at least acquire the Intel as to where the transmitter is.” Lenkov said.

  “I don’t mind taking it out sir.” Mad Dawg said.

  “Come to the bridge when you are ready to say goodbye to your ship.” Omori said.

  After Lenkov, Omori and Captain Maxwell left, Mad Dawg, still deeply sadden at the thought that he was fixing to lose his baby girl, left a few moments later. He stood quietly on the bridge, drinking from the bottle of brandy as his watch Omori start the engines of Galactic Prime to prepare it to travel away from Golden Hyperion. Before Omori gave the command for Galactic Prime to begin it’s last voyage she looked at Mad Dawg who shook his head. He just couldn’t send his ship on a death voyage. When the ship was within range of the LMPG the gun fired one shot which destroyed Galactic Prime. Up to 80% of the ship was vaporized and that told everyone, including Mad Dawg, that the LMPG was fully capable of destroying The Hammer of Doom killing all on board.

  “Give me everything that I need… and I WILL make certain that that second transmitter as well as what is in the core tunnel is destroyed. By any means necessary.” Mad Dawg said with deep hatred in his eyes for what just happened to his ship. He will kill Captain Dawson and finish off the rest of the EOD forces (minus The Hammer of Doom) on Golden Hyperion.

  (4)

  Captain Dawson finally met up with the rest of his personnel at A10-36D. They were holed up in a parking garage and each of them knew that The Hammer of Doom would not appear overhead (after it dipped below the horizon) for another three and a half hours. Although that did not give them much time to rescue their captured comrades and then secure the base, it did give them enough time to rescue them and then to leave and find a safe secure location. Dawson was counting on taking prisoners and that would be his shield from The Hammer of Doom firing at the base once, he’d hope, that it is taken. But just in case he couldn’t take any prisoners, Dawson calcu
lated that he could still find a safe secure location.

  As soon as The Hammer of Doom disappeared below the horizon Dawson and his personnel left in several APCs and three tanks (Dawson left in a car). Most of his men were in a Heavy APC. A Heavy APC puts emphasis upon firepower and thus has less personnel. Some has called it “a tank with more people in it.” The rest of Dawson’s personnel was traveling in a APC. Dawson was quite confident that his former base with all of it’s prisoners released, the enemy taken prisoner, would be under his control before the end of the day. But as confident as he is, he still won’t enter the base. Nevertheless, he will be close enough to see the action.

  “Sir, The Hammer of Doom is no longer in orbit over us.” Dawson’s driver informed him.

  “Tell them to begin the attack without delay. Remind them that they are under strict orders to take prisoners.” Captain Dawson said, trying to maintain control since he was under the influence of pain medication.

  “Yes sir.” The driver responded. He then gave the order over the com system.

  Dawson had his tanks move around the base firing at any strong defenses until they moved into the position that he wanted. One tank to move to Dawson’s left side, one to his right, and one behind the base (rear flank). Dawson wanted them to destroy any defenses and then blast a hole in the base so that the APCs could go through. It was clear from the beginning that Dawson seriously underestimated his enemy. The tanks on the left and right flank was destroyed and the third tank managed to destroy a small section of the fortification. What Dawson didn’t realize was that Lenkov took advantage of the terrain and wanted that to occur since the ground there was ten feet below the ground level of the base. The part of the base that faced Dawson had trenches that could stop a APC in its tracks. Although it couldn’t stop a tank, Dawson could see that it had too many anti-tank defenses. Dawson could only attack from the left, right and rear flanks which is what Lenkov wanted.

  “Sir, we lost two of our tanks.” The driver informed Captain Dawson.

  “Which ones?” Dawson asked. He was a bit annoyed by their early destruction.