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

by Douglas Howell

  “According to this, Peterson stated that one of the Golems was destroyed. He stated that he strongly believes that they can be destroyed. Like he said, if they get off of that world than far more people will die.” Dr. Costa responded.

  “What do you think that we should do?”

  “I think that we should help. Isn’t that what your heart is telling you to do? Isn’t it?”

  “Alright. Inform the others.”

  It was never easy for him to pilot that ship. It really does take more than one person. But what makes matters worse is the fact that the ship can only receive messages not send them. What could he do? He really wanted to send one out. To let everyone know that help is coming. But alas he could do nothing more than work hard piloting that ship. It was causing him to think of his home world. The Golems, the hive. The mass number of people suffering and dying. He knows what it will be like when they get there. He’d seen it before. But at least this time it is somehow different. Could it be possible that there may be the hope of victory? His own personal salvation? Of his people perhaps? God he’d hope so. He so much wanted them all to be okay.

  “Please, dear god, please give those poor dear people the strength to survive this new nightmare.” He prayed to himself.

  (4)

  “Listen up everyone! The torpedoes are here! Fall back to a safe distance!” The officer mentioned over the radio system to all air and ground forces.

  The communicational Golem, which was somewhat of the slowest, was also the farthest away from the other two. It was still trying it’s best to cross the eastern waterway nearest Wolf Creek. (It was also somewhat close to the ocean.) When the crew with the three old torpedoes arrived. (The torpedoes was already retrofitted to be able to fire and to be guided by a retrofitted mobile artillery.) The first torpedo use was the one with the smallest yield at 1 kiloton. It struck the Golem in it’s left “elbow” completely destroying it’s left arm. (It look like it did more damage blowing the left half of it’s “torso” apart but those damn nanites “grabbed” the pieces blown off and reattached them.) They then used the 8 kiloton torpedo and it hit the Golem in it’s right “hip” causing the Golem to fall into the water. The Golem was blown in half by the explosion. Although it’s left arm and it’s hip was no more it still was not dead. It still had it’s “legs” they were just not attached to it anymore. They then decided to use the 15 kiloton on it. Because the Golem was almost completely under water, with it’s right arm periodically coming out, they had to guess at where it was under water. When the explosion was over they heard nothing but an eerie calm. A brave helicopter pilot then few over the site and got low to the water.

  “We killed it! Oh my fucking god! I don’t believe it! We killed it!” The pilot reported back. Nobody could believe it, but there it was the pilot was flying very low to the water where the Golem was. It was indeed dead.

  (5)

  Wilcox was yet again in front of the media at the urging of Peterson. (Peterson made excuses as to why he couldn’t do it.) Wilcox and the media finally made it to the site of the second Golem’s death. And this time it was early in the morning. Behind him as he was talking to the media their helicopters was buzzing around the down Golem video taping and broadcasting the wreckage. He was doing a far better job this time around. And later when he saw how the media was portraying him it soften him up a bit concerning how he views them.

  “See I told you that it would work.” Peterson mentioned to Wilcox after Wilcox finished talking to the media.

  “Yeah. Now we have only one torpedo left to take out two.”

  “Aw come on now. Maybe we can kill two birds with one stone.”

  “Yeah.” Wilcox responded not being convinced because the last two Golems are not close enough. What’s more, both needs to be in the water. Or at least deep enough in the water.

  “I was right about the media wasn’t I? So maybe I’m right about this.” Peterson responded trying his best to cheer him up.

  “Yeah well… I got work to do. Goodbye.”

  (6)

  “Are you serious? You mean that they actually killed it?” Coté asked someone.

  They were boarding the very boat that they used so long ago when they got the news. It felt like they just completed their original mission and now they’re going back to their extraction zone. Each one of them kept on thinking about everything that they went through since they got to that world. Seeing that boat again and being on board was weighing heavy upon all of them because of all of their teammates that lost their lives. Everyone spent most of their time on the deck looking at the scenery passing them by. They would take pictures and videos of that scenery and certain parts of the boat.

  “Why are you crying?” Coté asked Nakada.

  “I found Sanchez rosary beads.” He responded. He was setting down at a table in the cafeteria. He look so lost and hurt.

  “What she lost them?”

  “No. They were just lying on the bed that she used. Along with this.” Nakada responded. He then gave her a picture of Sanchez family showing her husband, herself, and their children. It caused Coté to cry. She then took the rosary beads and the picture and placed it with the bible and the crucifix from that small church. They then left to see if they couldn’t find anymore personal items from their fallen teammates. They found nothing else.

  “Hey ma’am I just received a message from Jaguar 42R stating that he is trying is best to slow down the factory Golem so that it can be taken out. He also stated that he now knows how to destroy the last one.” Ramirez informed Vaistll.

  “Okay. Thank you.” Vaistll responded with a heavy sigh.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” She didn’t want to tell him of her suspicions that Jaguar 42R and Viper 33X is going to sacrifice themselves to take out the last Golem.

  (7)

  “This is Jaguar 42R to all ground forces. It appears from my attitude that KEV 74 has been blasted from the Golem. We will now get into a defensive position between KEV 74 and the Golem. We can only give you no more than six to ten minutes. Retrieve the bitch now!”

  The Golem in a desperate bid to retrieve KEV 74 ended up getting stuck in the mud. It did not take long for the crew with the last torpedo to arrive. But they couldn’t use it. Not until the Golem gets back into deep enough water. And the only place that is deep enough is the waters between the harbor and the pier that Task Force ZH-3C was traveling between when they were first on that cargo ship. And this time around, for the team, they can just sit idly by passing the time away. For this time some of Lenkov’s personnel is acting as the crew of the ship.

  “That mother fucking Kronos Golem has turned around! Either it’s heading back to help out the damn wretched stuck Golem, it’s confused, or it’s trying to retrieve the KEV!” A pilot shouted out over the radio. (Everyone started to call it Kronos because ever so once in a while it would say it.)

  “Hey Jaguar! Where do you want us to take the KEV!?” The pilot asked.

  “What’s the condition of the damn bitch!?”

  “She’s still in her incubation tube!”

  “Understood! Take her to the rendezvous point!” Jaguar 42R responded. That would be the cargo ship that Task Force ZH-3C is on.

  “The other fucker just unstuck itself and is on the move!” One of the pilots mentioned. That particular pilot was hovering around the Golem in order to keep everyone updated on it.

  “Where is it headed!?” Jaguar 42R asked.

  “It appears to be headed in the same generalize direction as before!”

  “What about the Kronos one!?” Jaguar 42R asked the pilot monitoring it.

  “I think that dumb fuck…! Wait a minute.” Pilot was saying. In the background it sounded like he was chuckling. He then continued on. “Here is a video feed on the Kronos Golem!”

  The pilot actually sent the video feed over the main channel so that even the media could pick it up. Everybody watched as it was headed towards a steep em
bankment. It then said Kronos. Took a step and felled down the embankment. As it was tumbling down it sounded like it was saying either that it eat crows and toes, or it sounded like it was saying that it eats crows… oh no. Then when it finished falling and as it was trying to get up, it said Kronos again. Everybody got a big kick out of it. It gave them a chance to laugh at it and indirectly at the EOD. That one single incident did more damage to the EOD upper echelons reputation than what anybody could have ever had imaged.

  (8)

  “Jaguar 42R, and both Captain Peterson and Wilcox, wants us to drop each of you off at that harbor.” The acting captain of the cargo ship stated to Task Force ZH-3C.

  “Did they give a reason why?” Vaistll asked.

  “Yeah. Jaguar 42R discover a better way to get those two numnutz to follow a rabbit. So you and your team is no longer needed. The three of them wanted to put you guys somewhere safe and sound.” The acting captain responded.

  “So where are we supposed to go then?” Vaistll asked.

  “Stay here or go back to your old base camp. Someone will come by later and pick you up. But they have no idea as to when.” The acting captain responded.

  “We will be waiting at our old base camp then.” Vaistll mentioned.

  “Alright I’ll inform them.”

  When Task Force ZH-3C disembark they noticed that their Quad-Walkers was still there. Although the crew of the cargo ship wanted to offload some vehicles the team said no. They wanted to walk back because it brings back memories of their fallen comrades. After two hours of traveling they got to the house that Ellis, Wexler and Moriarty was at when Ellis wanted to wait out the storm when the three of them first arrived What took them so long was their desire to take pictures and/or videos.

  “Hey Ol’ Man, isn’t it kind of strange that it’s too quiet. We should be hearing the sounds of nature. You know… like birds or something.” Ellis said to Wexler. Actually there were sounds of nature. It was still in the middle of the day. Life returned there at some point.

  “Maybe it has something to do with that orange colored cinnabar.” Wexler responded.

  “What’s cinnabar?” Ellis asked with a smile of fondness.

  “Vermillion.” Wexler responded.

  “What’s vermillion?” Ellis asked.

  “A different shade of sarcasm.” Wexler said. It caused Ellis to chuckle as he was missing their so-call chauffeur (Moriarty).

  When they got across the river and back to the boat house that they were once at, they decided to wait awhile. They were looking into the distance knowing that as soon as they can see the sky glowing that another Golem had just been destroyed. They knew that they didn’t have to wait that long for it to get to it’s destination. It’s height, roughly one thousand feet, should give it a walking stride of at least 250 feet. But because of what it is comprised up of, and given the terrain, and the distance, it still shouldn’t take it that long to get anywhere. But once it gets into water… who knows. What’s more everybody is both intentionally and unintentionally slowing it down.

  “And there it goes.” Ramirez said after fifty minutes have passed. They all left without saying a word and headed back to their old base camp. One more Golem to take down, and Jaguar 42R is the man with the plan. He just hasn’t told anybody what it is yet.

  (9)

  The factory Golem was at the rendezvous point and it was trapped. Drones took the anchors of ships and hooked it into the Golem. Then, when enough was attached, they simply just sunk the ships. The Golem was not able to move in any given direction. They also made certain that everything above it’s chest was above the waterline.

  “Do you think that it will work?” The Crewman asked.

  “The torpedo or the tactic?” The comrade asked.

  “Either.”

  “Actually the tactic will work but as for the torpedo…”

  “What? What about it?”

  “This torpedo originally had a 20 megaton warhead and…”

  “Originally?”

  “Yeah. Apparently the counter measures on Ma Duce struck it and it lost some of it’s kick.”

  “What!? Like how much?”

  “Ninety-nine point nine percent.”

  “So what, it’s now basically has the equivalent of a 20 kiloton warhead?”

  “You got it. So let’s just fire the damn thing and get it over with.”

  As luck would have it, it was the tactic and not the yield that always worked. When the Golem is in the water, make certain that your nuclear detonation occurs in the water and by it. As soon as everyone could see what was left of the Golem it became obvious to everyone that it too was no more. What was left of it had pieces fall off periodically. (It did had one arm up in the air.) When it became obvious the Kronos Golem was no longer interested in KEV 74 the crew of the cargo ship that Task Force ZH-3C was on left and headed to a more safer secure port.

  As the Clown, err, Kronos Golem was headed towards it’s rendezvous point people would shoot at it just for the hell of it. (Even in the water it could make people laugh at it for every single time that it try to say Kronos it sounded like it was saying Bro Knows. Which would cause some of the pilot gunners to laugh and say “Yeah the bros knows. And what we know is that you are no mo.”)

  “Goddamn that stupid mother fucking piece of shithead garbage bag rat fucking scum sucking trash whore of the universe!” Jaguar 42R angrily shouted out over the radio.

  “What’s wrong?” Vaistll asked him. She was glad to hear that he was still alive. (And the fact that he had earlier reconnected his helmet to the com system.)

  “That damn clown whoring dickhead deuce-bag won’t incorporate the wreckage!” Jaguar 42R said. It was apparent to all the he was piss as shit.

  “So what are you going to do?” Vaistll asked him. Hoping for the best response but fearing the worse. She really did not want to lose him.

  “Say, who’s piloting the dropship? It looks like a… Marine dropship.”

  “We are.” Vaistll responded.

  “Were did you get a Marine dropship?”

  “Will you tell me what you are going to do with that Golem?”

  “Of course I will.”

  “At some point after we landed upon this world, and permanently left the area, Mad Dawg sent us this dropship. I knew it was him, he’d left us a note.”

  “Really. What does it say?”

  “It says that he is sorry for what transpired before and that he does regret both his poor judgment and his behavior. He also stated that he had not abandoned us he just has other problems that he is working out. And then he added that we should keep our heads up and keep up the fight.”

  “Have you ever encountered this class of Dominator before?”

  “No.” Vaistll responded pondering what he will say next.

  “You are aware that it does have torpedoes on board?”

  “I never heard that before, so no.”

  “It has three. All low yield. Each has a 10 kiloton warhead. But they can only be fired upward not downward. Which means that we have no other way to use them other than…”

  “Wait! Why not just land and let someone take them out?”

  “I already thought about that. Captain Peterson along with Wilcox said that it wouldn’t work because of the safety measure incorporated into each one. Each one would have been automatically disarmed if we attempted it. And then they would need to have been taken back to the factory that produced them. But there always was another way to use them… but it’s risky.”

  “How risky?” Vaistll asked feeling a little heartbroken.

  “Me and Viper could theoretically die.”

  “What do you mean ‘theoretically’?”

  “I could easily program it on a flight path. Viper could program when the torpedoes detonate. It does have an escape pod. But there is a catch.”

  “What sort of a catch?”

  “Although we still have limited control over the Dominator after we eject, i
t’s not for long. But that shouldn’t be the real problem that we will face.”

  “So what will?”

  “This Dominator is old. It’s been setting in a hangar for maybe fifty years. We think that there could be some sort of critters living in it. Look, let me put it to you simply – it’s a flying rust bucket. Even if the escape pod works there is still two problems. At one point it’s thrusters will fire in order to get the two of us as far away from the explosion as fast as possible. And then it will eject us and hopefully we will be able to parachute down to safety. So you tell me how many things could go wrong?”

  “So you are thinking about flying it near the Golem and then detonate the torpedoes?” Vaistll said with a very heavy heart.

  “Maybe.”

  “I’ll miss you so very much.”

  “You’ll get over it.”

  “Please I want the two of you to live.”

  “Why? We can’t breed. We’re the last of our kind.”

  “If not for hope… than do it for… me.”

  “Goodbye my friend. It’s been nice knowing you.” Jaguar 42R responded.

  “No.” Vaistll cried when she said it.

  “Ma’am… look! They ejected!” Ellis nearly shouted out.

  Vaistll watched as the escape pod left the Dominator (it was already a long way away from it), and then she saw it’s thrusters fired. But there was a blinding light where the Golem once was. She then had to wait for her helmet to allow her to see again after the nuclear detonation. When she was able to see once more she saw that their parachutes did in fact opened and they were slowly coming down into the water. She was overcome with joy.

  “They did it! Oh my god they did it! They killed the Golem!” Coté shouted out. Everybody looked and couldn’t believe it. It was finally over… for everyone upon that world.

  “You ejected. Why?” Vaistll asked both Jaguar 42R and Viper 33X. When they got near enough to pick them up out of the water.

  “Both of us kept on struggling over which plan to use… but it always kept on coming back to one.” Jaguar 42R stated as he was being pulled into the dropship.