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

by Douglas Howell

“Sir, that’s not…” Vaistll was saying.

  “Can it! You had your chance and you blew it! I’m sending him and if he dies than it will be YOUR fault. Not another word captain.” Lenkov said with his voice slightly raised. He then pushed a button on his chair to activate the intercom. “Colonel McIntyre, come to the Conference Room on the bridge immediately.” Both Lenkov and Omori stood up and headed to the Conference Room. Omori looked at Vaistll and said, “Pray for the colonel.”

  When McIntyre got to the bridge he noticed the way Vaistll, Taylor and Ramirez was looking at him. McIntyre is not stupid. He knows that Lenkov must have said something to suggest that he may die. He also knows that Lenkov is not like other EOD commanders who would kill someone like him without just cause.

  “Whatever it is, the answer is no. So find someone else to do it.” McIntyre said as he came into the Conference Room.

  “Don’t you want to hear what we have to say?” Omori asked him.

  “No, not really. Look, I know that you two want me to be your errand boy. So you two can just forget it.” McIntyre responded.

  “I would send Task Force ZH-3C, but they don’t understand the nature of the enemy like you do.” Lenkov said.

  “Still not interested.” McIntyre responded.

  “The mission is not dangerous. We just want you to check out something for us.” Omori said politely.

  “Well in that case… get one of your people to do it.” McIntyre responded.

  “We would, and believe me we would, but it requires someone with your experience. We can’t even guarantee that the place would be free of hostiles. There shouldn’t be any there, but we have no way of knowing. And that is why we need someone with your experience. There is only one person on board with your type of experience and that is Jaguar 42R.” Lenkov said.

  “Then why don’t you get him to do it?” McIntyre asked.

  “Because Mad Dawg needs him on the assault upon the core tunnel. We suspect that the warehouse in the tunnel could be a cloning facility. If so, then they could be cloning Demon Xs.” Lenkov responded.

  “Does Mad Dawg know that?” McIntyre asked.

  “Of course. He wanted some payback for the lost of his ship. When he read the report on what may be in the tunnel, and how I wanted to send an extra 500 troops and some Dragon Clones, he didn’t like it. He said that it was a job for him and his boys and not…” Lenkov was saying.

  “Yeah, that sounds like him.” McIntyre, interrupting him, said.

  “You have to understand that I have no way of knowing if Jaguar 42R will survive. But if Mad Dawg succeeds in disabling the LMPG then it would greatly improve all of our chances in going home. So he needed someone like you to go with him, even if he refuses. This mission that we want you to go on is too important to wait.” Lenkov said.

  “Like I said, ‘the mission is not dangerous.’ All we need is Intel. It is at your discretion to kill anyone there.” Omori added.

  “Alright. What do you want me to do then?” McIntyre asked.

  “Do you have any Intel on what a Flip Jumper is?” Omori asked.

  “Nope. Never heard of them.” McIntyre responded.

  “They’re a specialize type of a android that I created. I don’t know if High Command knows of their existence, but I could be wrong. If that is that case, then they’re keeping them Top Secret. Most likely Red Booking them.” Omori mentioned.

  “So, what makes them so special?” McIntyre asked.

  “Here. Read this technical schematic on them.” Omori said as she handed him a PDA.

  “Holy shit! Damn you’re smart!” McIntyre said in complete astonishment at how smart she is.

  “There’s more. At the laboratory there is a safe with a red positronic brain in it. If you find it, please bring it back to me. Please understand, that brain can give any android self-awareness and emotions. I should have taken it with me, but I didn’t.” Omori said, almost pleading with him.

  “Why didn’t you?” McIntyre asked.

  “Because I made the mistake in trusting them.” Omori responded.

  “Here’s a PDA with all the Intel that you need.” Lenkov said.

  “What, they’re not on Golden Hyperion?” McIntyre asked after he notice which moon in the Omicron Ultra star system the Flip Jumpers are at.

  “They’re too dangerous to be here, especially since they are a proto-type.” Lenkov responded.

  “Any other questions?” Omori asked.

  “Will I still be your errand boy when I’m finished with this one?” McIntyre asked.

  “Not unless you want to go on another mission.” Lenkov responded. The three of them then got up to leave. Lenkov and Omori went to a restaurant on the ship, to get a bite to eat.

  Four minutes and fifteen seconds before McIntyre arrived at the docking port at the laboratory that he was sent to, Jaguar 42R gave the Emergency Order and the situation with the Demon Xs was resolved. McIntyre had no problems in landing his shuttle craft. Nor did anybody asked him for identification as he approach the lab complex. The lab itself appeared to be deserted, but as with his experience with the EOD he knows that looks can be deceiving.

  When McIntyre got inside the lab complex he could tell that someone has been in it no more than six months ago. The last time that Lenkov and Omori was there was 81 weeks ago. He could tell that there is no security personnel there, only scientists and/or engineers. It wasn’t surprising to him that there are no security personnel since they probably don’t know that Lenkov has betray the EOD.

  The PDA that was given to him had notes that stated that the EOD High Command off-and-on would order Lenkov and Omori out of the star system for different reasons. (In a couple of cases they were given three months vacation. In another case, Lenkov was told that he was going to be promoted to commodore.) In each case they were gone for three-to-four months. The last time that they were told to return back to the star system they were order to stay until their mission is over. That was 16 months ago. It is undeniable that each and every time that they were ordered out of the Omicron Ultra star system someone from the EOD High Command came to Golden Hyperion. Whatever it was that they were doing was kept Top Secret, even from Lenkov and Omori. Whoever came, would always leave before Lenkov and Omori would return. Mostly within two weeks.

  McIntyre first stop was the security station. The security station had a video camera system instead of human operators. Most places like the one he is at is no different. He was able to extrapolate that there are eight people there. For some reason, some of the cameras were off-line. McIntyre did try to bring them on-line but couldn’t. The notes that he was given told him that there are no cameras where the Flip Jumpers are being kept.

  When McIntyre got to the storage area of where the Flip Jumpers are being held he noticed that they are gone. He then left and headed to the cargo bay to find out where were they taken to. The cargo bay computers confirmed his worst fears – they were taken to Golden Hyperion. After he downloaded the information to his PDA he left and headed to the lab where the red positronic brain is being kept.

  “So what’s the problem?” Stirling asked Meikle. Both of them was trying to reverse engineer the red positronic brain and was having trouble with the software. They found the brain twenty-seven weeks ago after they finally decrypt the code on the safe.

  “The problem is, we have got to be the most stupid people in the universe. We’ve been working on this damn thing for almost seven months and we still can’t crack this damn software encryption. It’s like it has a mind of it’s own.” Meikle responded out of frustration.

  “You got that right.” McIntyre said out loud as he came in and killed everyone. (Although he could have come in earlier, he waited outside listening in on their conversation.) After he shot everyone, he noticed that one of them was still alive and was headed to a security console on the wall. McIntyre got off a few rounds, but missed. The engineer managed to push a button causing the alarms to go off for twenty seconds. McIntyre
then shot and killed the engineer.

  “Shit.” McIntyre said after he heard a very familiar eerie howl/growl. The worst part for him is that he has only one handgun, a knife, and some explosives in his backpack.

  McIntyre neither ran nor left the floor. Instead he took a chair and a metal plank from the room and put it in the hallway and then waited for a Demon X to come. When one came, McIntyre stood there and did nothing. The Demon X let out a roar when it saw him and then ran to him. McIntyre then shot it in the throat causing it to fall on it’s back. He then quickly holstered his weapon, took both the chair and the metal plank over to the Demon X’s position. McIntyre then used the metal plank to partly roll the Demon X on it’s side and then put the end that he was holding on the chair. He then squatted down and placed a pressure sensitive explosive under the body of the Demon X.

  “Play with that.” McIntyre said after he stood up.

  McIntyre threw both the chair and the metal plank across the hallway and then went to the stairwell that the Demon X came out of. He did not go down the stairwell because he knew that they will come up it eventually. He also knew that there was another stairwell on the far side of the floor. McIntyre also knew that the Demon Xs most likely would not come up that stairwell. He stood there listening for any Demon Xs that may be coming up. McIntyre rolled up his left arm sleeve and then took his knife (he heard them coming at that point), cut his arm, and let the blood drop on the floor. He then quickly ran across the floor and smeared his blood on each door to a large room. (With one of the rooms, he ripped off his left arm sleeve, smeared it with blood, and threw it into the room.) When McIntyre got to the far side of the floor he opened the door to the stairwell and listen for any Demon Xs. He then went down the stairwell when he heard none coming up.

  Any time that McIntyre wanted to open a door he used his left hand since it had no blood on it. As he went down the stairwell McIntyre would open a door to a floor to listen for any Demon Xs that may or may not be near. When McIntyre went two flights down he went inside the door and quickly ran to the other side of the floor. When he was roughly halfway there he heard an explosion from above. He stop hearing them roaring after that since they roar each time they smelled his blood. When McIntyre got to the stairwell on the other side of the floor he stood in the doorway listening for them. He then made his left arm bleed in a effort to create a small pool of blood on the floor inside the stairwell. He then tore off a piece of his uniform, wipe off some of the blood from his arm, and threw the rag up a flight of stairs. McIntyre then fired several shots into the stairwell, turn around, and ran like hell to the other side of the floor. He then enter the stairwell with his gun drawn. When he heard nothing he proceeded down the stairwell.

  McIntyre went down one floor and went inside. He quickly and quietly went to each large room and smeared his blood on a door to a large room. Like before, he threw a bloody rag in one of them. Off-and-on he would stop and listen to what the Demon Xs was doing since they where one floor above. When he got to the stairwell he opened it and fired several shots. He then turn and quickly ran to the stairwell that he uses to go down.

  “That’s right. Where am I? You guys are smart. You’ll figure it out.” McIntyre said under his breath as he heard the Demon Xs made a distinctive roar. He said it when he was in the stairwell.

  When McIntyre went down three more flights of stairs he heard a Demon X coming up. He holster his weapon and cup his hands around his mouth and made a grunt/growl. The Demon X made a ‘huh?’ sound when it heard him. McIntyre pulled out his gun and pointed it downward through the handrail and waited for the Demon X. The Demon X kept on making a soft yelping noise as it was coming up. When both of them saw each other, McIntyre shot it in the throat before it could do anything. He then went down to where it was and passed it without problems.

  “Here, smell this.” McIntyre said as he rub his right hand that had blood on it, on the Demon X nose. He then laughed when it struggled to get him.

  As McIntyre was heading down another flight of stairs, he heard more Demon Xs coming up. He then turned around and headed back up at the same time he holster his weapon, cut his left arm, rub his right palm in the blood, and smeared the blood on the handrail. As he passed the Demon X that he just shot he noticed that it was dead. He then went into the next door and ran very quickly to the next stairwell. He didn’t hear any Demon Xs in the stairwell, so he went down the stairwell as fast as he could paying attention to any sounds of any Demon Xs that may or may not be there. As he was running down the stairs he was smearing his blood on the handrails. Once the blood on his right palm was dried he wiped off more blood from his left arm and repeated smearing blood on the handrails.

  When McIntyre went down two flights of stairs he heard more Demon Xs coming up. He then tore off a piece of his uniform, wiped off more blood from his arm and threw the rag up several steps. He then went in the door and stood on the other side of it. McIntyre holster his weapon, placed his right hand under his left armpit, and pressed his left arm into his torso. As the Demon Xs got to where he was they let out an eerie howl/growl that was so loud McIntyre struggled not to put his hands over his ears. After he heard them go up the stairs in the stairwell, he very carefully opened the door and listen for any Demon Xs that may be coming. He then entered the stairwell and very quickly went down the four remaining flight of stairs.

  McIntyre was so relieved when he got down to the last floor. It was the one with the cargo bay and the Environmental Control Systems in it. Although he wasn’t expecting any Demon Xs to be down there, he cautiously and very quickly went to the Environmental Control Systems. Once there, he put on a spacesuit, minus the helmet, and went to the main computers. McIntyre then shut off all the heat within the lab complex. He then open up all the shutters throughout the lab complex. (The shutters are design to vent poisonous or toxic fumes out of the lab complex.) By opening all of the shutters all of the oxygen within the lab complex would eventually escape into outer space. (That is not consider a problem because of the oxygen generators.) McIntyre then destroyed the computers in order to prevent them from closing the shutters once all the oxygen have been depleted. Once all the oxygen was gone McIntyre went over to the oxygen generators and destroyed them. With that, all the alarms went off in the building.

  “You know, that’s goin’ to drive them crazy with that hearing of theirs.” McIntyre said as he put on his helmet.

  Since there are no ships in the cargo bay McIntyre had to return back to his shuttle. He walked calmly back knowing that the Demon Xs no longer pose a threat. Off-and-on he would come across a Demon X, but it did nothing when it saw him. It was too cold (50 below and dropping), very little air, and the alarms were going off, for them to be much of a threat. When he came to the door to where his shuttle is docked, a alpha male whose body was made very weak by the cold and the lack of oxygen, came through the door, almost knocking McIntyre over. It then ran into the room yelling, trying to put it’s hands over it’s ears while running at the same time. Twelve feet before he reached his shuttle, all the alarms stop going off. McIntyre boarded his shuttle and returned back to The Hammer of Doom.

  (3)

  Fifteen minutes and forty-five seconds after McIntyre left with the red positronic brain and headed back to The Hammer of Doom, Captain Dawson finally made it to the surface. What took him so long to reach the surface is the fact that the elevator did not take the direct route.

  “It’s time to dethrone you little Caesar, and that dirty Jap bitch of yours.” Captain Dawson said out of pure hate and spite.

  Little Caesar is what anybody who disrespect Lenkov calls him because of his height. By Japanese standards both Lenkov and Omori are tall. By American standards both of them are short. Although the LMPG is now deactivated, Captain Dawson still has an ace up his sleeve. There is still one more thing he can use it for - to dethrone little Caesar.

  (4)

  1st Lieutenant Illes, one of Captain Dawson’s personnel, is the only s
urvivor left in what once was the cloning facility in the core tunnel. He was seriously thinking about switching sides before he was order down there and now, after he figures out a way to get out, he will switch sides. No more following a mad man who will inadvertently get everyone killed.

  Dawson order all of his personnel down in the cloning facility in order to control the Demon Xs through that of creating several alpha males. Illes thought that it was fruitless and pointless to do that since the only way to create a alpha male is to let the males fight over a alpha female, or to pick one and put cybernetic implants in him. Pick the wrong male and it could get all the Demon Xs in that clan killed. Let the males pick and it would become near impossible to give that male cybernetic implants since the clan would protect him. Just how does Dawson propose to do either when they’re stuck down there? A Demon X cloning facility is design to test the males in order to narrow down who may be the best male to select. What Dawson is proposing is shear madness. They don’t have the time.

  When Dawson let all the Demon Xs out, and everybody was in the fight for their lives, an explosion went off somewhere near Illes and it threw him hard against one of the cloning vats. Illes broke his left wrist, arm and right ankle when he hit it. He also got a large bruise over his right knee. He can’t tell if he cracked his kneecap, or if he just bruised it. But man, does it hurt. After he fell, he knew that there was a safe place for him to hide – under one of the cloning vats. He knew that if he could make it then the Demon Xs would not be able to get to him. When Illes got under the cloning vat he rolled over on his back and passed out from the pain.

  Now, as he slowly regains consciousness, he finds himself awakening to a horrific nightmare. The smell… Oh god, the smell of all of that blood and burning flesh… was nauseating. And then there is that... sound. The sound of those… things, eating people. People that he knew. He could hear the sound of bones crunching. Illes had to stop himself from gagging. He was too afraid to make any sounds. Not even the sound of him gagging. He knows how good their sense of hearing and… smell is. As he laid there listening to them eat his friends all he could do was to cry. He had to figure out a way to escape. And then it hit him. He knows the way. A way that he can get to the surface, of all places!