The Cross of Mithras Vol. 1: EOD Operation Welcome to Hell (108 page)

  “Hoffneisten, Kaminski, Caparzo! Get over here!” Sanchez ordered them.

  “You wanted to see us ma’am?” Hoffneisten nervously asked her. Scared because of what’s coming at them and nearly getting killed earlier.

  “I know how to destroy that damn thing. So Hoffneisten, I need you as a driver. Kaminski, you’re my gunner.” Sanchez ordered them.

  “What do you need me for ma’am?” Caparzo asked after she’d paused.

  “I want you to man that plasma cannon and keep it off of us. Got it?”

  “Yes ma’am.” Caparzo responded. He knew like the others that it was a suicide mission, but someone has to do it. He also knew that she picked him because of his marksmanship.

  Caparzo, using the plasma cannon targeting acquisition data, scanned the terrain in front of the EOD Dominator and sent the data to two APCs with a small plasma cannon. Both of the APCs were in front of the main entrance to the lab complex. Sanchez, Hoffneisten and Kaminski ran and got into one of the APCs and took off. The pathway that Hoffneisten took was angular to that of the lab complex and to a dirt road that ran through a forest on the right side of the Dominator. Ten seconds after Hoffneisten made it to the dirt road, Caparzo was able shoot down all EOD robotic planes.

  “Get some you little bitches!” Kaminski yelled out to the Demon Cy-Xs.

  Kaminski, because of his skill at handling the plasma cannon, was fully able to make all of his shots count. Which is why Sanchez picked him. At one point he shot the engine of a APC causing the engine to explode killing the driver. He then shot at the Demon Cy-Xs who came out of the APC killing a few of them. He then shot a tree down causing a APC to hit it and flip end over end. He then shot the fuel tank causing the APC to explode.

  “Aw come on! It’s more fun shooting them!” Kaminski yelled at Hoffneisten. Hoffneisten ran over a couple of Demon Cy-Xs. He then swerve in order to use the back end of the APC to hit a Demon Cy-X causing it to fly. Kaminski then shot and killed it. Nineteen seconds later a nano-shot went through the APC almost killing Sanchez. It passed in front of her face causing her to piss her pants. Seven seconds later the APC was hit by something putting a fist-size hole in it.

  “I’m unstoppable!” Kaminski yelled out. He then saw a Demon Cy-X in a APC pointing it’s gun at him. Both of them fire their guns at one another at the same time killing each other.

  Sanchez hesitated before she’d manned the plasma gun. As she was looking up at the gun she noticed a plasma shot came over. If she didn’t hesitated she would have been killed herself. Her marksmanship was not as good as Kaminski, but nevertheless it got the job done. Sanchez started to feel the internal struggle between emotions and duty. Everything was becoming surreal to her. It was like she was in some type of a dream. No, a nightmare. Shooting away at those Demon Cy-Xs and seeing them shoot back. Feeling the lifeless body of Kaminski hitting her legs when the APC went over a bump in the road. She knew that without Kaminski neither her nor Hoffneisten would make it back.

  “Good god! We’ve finally made it!” Hoffneisten cried out.

  “Keep them off of me by any means necessary!” Sanchez ordered Hoffneisten. She then grabbed the explosives and ran to the base of the Dominator.

  Sanchez knew what to do because she learned it from her husband. Although she told her superiors what she learned, nobody was able to put it into practice. New tactics had to been thought up, no one ever got that close to one to try it, and of course nobody was really certain if it would work. For some unknown reason at regular intervals a vent would open up three feet from the ground and let out some type of nanoprobes. Twenty seconds later those same nanoprobes would return. If there were blockage in the vent those nanoprobes would “push” it deeper into the Dominator. It is not known what would happen to the blockage.

  “Shit.” Sanchez said when she noticed that the nanoprobes was entering the Dominator. She had no idea on how long it would take for them to leave. She then heard a noise deep within the Dominator which cause her to look up. She then noticed that Caparzo shot it near the Dominator’s right side. It look like he’d hit one of the Dominator’s weapons. She then noticed that the nanoprobes were leaving the Dominator telling her its true weakness.

  “Got ya.” Sanchez said as she noticed the nanoprobes were leaving. After the rest of the nanoprobes left she immediately placed the explosive in the vent. She then calculated how long it would take the nanoprobes to “push” the explosive up inside the beast. After she set the timer on the explosive, she waited for the nanoprobes to return.

  “Come on, come on, come on.” Sanchez said as the nanoprobes returned. She was waiting for them to detect the blockage so that she could activate the explosive.

  “Ma’am.” Hoffneisten cried out weakly.

  “What?” Sanchez responded. She then turned to look when he didn’t respond and noticed that he was coughing up blood.

  In that brief moment of time when Sanchez noticed that Hoffneisten was dying from his wounds and the nanoprobes finally detected the blockage, she realized that there was no way for her to be able to get inside the APC, turn it around and head back in enough time. Nor was there anyway for her to reset the timer. The explosive was well on its way up inside the Dominator. When she saw Hoffneisten she felt the tug on the explosives and she automatically pushed the button.

  “Goooooo! Get out of here ma’am!” Hoffneisten yelled at Sanchez. He then started to shoot at any of the Demon Cy-Xs that he saw.

  Sanchez turned and ran for her dear life. Within several seconds she heard the Demon Cy-Xs overrun Hoffneisten and then she heard the first of several explosions coming from the EOD Dominator. She then took her rifle and started to shoot any Demon Cy-Xs that got in her way. A couple of times she heard Caparzo shoot at some Demon Cy-Xs that was near her. He didn’t know where she was, but on two occasions he came close in killing her. Through shear luck and will she made it back.

  When Sanchez made it back she had to run up the hill since there were some Demon Cy-Xs chasing her. Those Demon Cy-Xs were quickly killed by the Dragon Clones who were stationed in some gun turrets. When Sanchez got up the hill to where Caparzo was, she immediately dropped to her knees out of exhaustion. Caparzo, who was standing by Sanchez, offered her his half canteen of water. He did it out of a sign of respect at what she’d done. She acknowledged it, took the canteen, drank from it and gave it back to him. She then took her canteen, which was full of water, and poured it over her head. Caparzo then helped her up and walked back to the plasma cannon.

  Hundreds of Demon Cy-Xs were trying to overrun Blue Team’s position. Caparzo kept on firing at them until a robotic tank destroyed his plasma cannon. Caparzo was alright, but he was thrown back. The robotic tank kept on firing until one of the Dragon Clones in the gun turrets was able to destroy it. Sanchez, Caparzo and Van Hoven held their ground constantly firing at all of those Demon Cy-Xs that kept on coming. And then it happened. The gun turret on their right, that was at the bottom of the hill, was finally overrun and all five Dragon Clones were killed.

  “Oh shit! One of the gun turrets is lost!” Van Hoven yelled out. She then killed all of the Demon Cy-Xs that came from it.

  “I’m out!” Sanchez yelled out. A robotic Johnny-on-the-spot then came over to drop off all of it’s ammo. When it turned and headed back to the lab complex for more ammo, it was destroyed.

  “Too bad we don’t have those robotic JOTS on our side.” Caparzo said out loud.

  “Ask Omori for them. She created them.” Sanchez responded when she was able to.

  “Goddamn it! Not again!” Van Hoven cried out, out of anger and frustration when she saw the other gun turret was overrun. The gun turret was on their lower left side and halfway up the hill. Sanchez and Caparzo killed each of the Demon Cy-Xs that came from the turret. Five more Dragon Clones were killed and that part of the hill was now defended by what was left of Blue Team.

  “Try your best to hold them off. We’re coming down.” A Dragon Clone said through the helmet-com to Blue Team. There were seventeen Dragon Clones in the lab complex who was providing sniper fire for Blue Team. The building took several hits earlier from a robotic tank as it tried to kill those Dragon Clones. Only two of the Dragon Clones were killed.

  Blue Team came within an ace of being overrun when those fifteen Dragon Clones finally got to their position. The Dragon Clones ran to the weakest spot in the line of defense to hold off repeated attempts by the Demon Cy-Xs to get a foothold on top of the hill. Three times the Demon Cy-Xs got to the top and three times they were thrown back. But on the fourth attempt they finally made it and started to fight the Dragon Clones in hand-to-hand combat.

  “Take up secondary defensive positions! We’re fixing to be overrun!” Sanchez ordered Caparzo and Van Hoven when she saw the Dragon Clones fight the Demon Cy-Xs. Although their new defensive position allowed them to be in a much stronger position to deal with a “hole” in their defenses, it gave the hill below their position to the Demon Cy-Xs.

  “Grenade!” Van Hoven yelled out. One of the Demon Cy-Xs threw it blindly over the wall and the grenade landed near the three of them. Van Hoven threw herself on the grenade before it went off. Neither Sanchez nor Caparzo had any reaction to the death of Van Hoven. They were too busy killing the Demon Cy-Xs that were coming over the wall. The Demon Cy-Xs then stopped trying to come over the wall in favor of the hole in the defenses.

  “Last group!” One of the Dragon Clones yelled out. At that time there were only three Dragon Clones left. Eight Demon Cy-Xs were trying to come through the hole. When the last Dragon Clone was killed there was only three Demon Cy-Xs left.

  “Shit!” Caparzo said out loud when he pointed his rifle at a Demon Cy-X and he’d heard a click from his rifle. While he was reloading Sanchez shot and killed one Demon Cy-X and was shot by another. Caparzo then shot and killed the Demon Cy-X who shot Sanchez while the last one shot him. Sanchez then shot and killed the last one.

  “Hey ma’am… how ‘bout a blow job before I die?” Caparzo asked her with his dying breath.

  “Asshole to the end.” Sanchez responded and then she’d died. Caparzo laughed and died himself.

  “Holy shit! Lieutenant Sanchez and Caparzo is down!” Coté responded when she saw both of them die. Coté, Nakada and Martinez was in a gun turret on top of the hill. It was the only one on top of the hill as well as the only one with a sniper tower.

  “What’s their status?” Nakada asked her. He was too busy shooting to notice what had happened.

  “Dead. Both of them are dead sir. We’re all that’s left of Blue Team.” Coté responded.

  During the assault Martinez snipe at the Demon Cy-Xs. When they started to come up the hill he tried to snipe as many as he could. When Martinez could no longer see the Demon Cy-Xs he went back to sniping at any Demon Cy-Xs that he could see until he ran out of ammo for his sniper rifle. Not once did Martinez lose his cool while he was sniping at them. Not even when shots came very close to him. His coolness under fire is most likely what saved their lives. The three of them stayed there until the day activities were over.

  White Team was in the best most fortified position of any team, even though they did not have any gun turrets to protect them. They had no reaction nor any comments when they saw Hoffneisten drive by in the APC. They kind of figured what they were going to do. Before Hoffneisten got near to the Dominator, Hayes had to radio to them that it was not safe for them to return back the way in which they went. Most of the army of demons attempted to come up that pathway. They first tried to come up with a robotic tank, but one of the Dragon Clone defenders destroyed it. After that three of those tanks started to open fire repeatedly until they too were destroyed. At the same time that those robotic tanks were firing at the defenders the army of demons came in full force. It didn’t took them long to break through the first line of defenses.

  “Here they come!” Mendoza yelled out to everyone.

  “Let ‘em have it!” Hayes hollered back. With that everyone started to open fire.

  The army of demons came in a never ending wave of shear terror. No matter how many were killed it never seemed like it was enough to stop them. No army could endure the losses that they were without quitting. And yet they kept on coming. It was unsettling to see that many. Each one so huge, each one armed and each one determined to kill.

  The army of demons then came at them with APCs, a couple of tanks, and ground forces. The tanks along with some of those ground forces tried to kill the defenders with anti-vehicle weapons. They also did it to allow the main assault forces to get to monorail station. If the army of demons could hold their ground where the monorail station is, they would have a major foothold in their assault to retake the lab complex. Once they acquire the ground it is only a matter of time before the parking garage falls, and once that happens, there will be no stopping them.

  The gunner of the first APC that made it in got off a shot before he was killed. The shot almost killed Weng, it hit a glass window to his right and sprayed him with broken glass. Weng was okay, but before he could react he was shot right above his right knee. As he came up he was shot in the throat but at an angle that only grazed him. He then threw a grenade with his left hand and before he could retract his hand he was shot in the wrist. As he turned to look at his left wrist (and crying out in pain) he was shot through his right temple and died immediately. His lifeless body then fell over the railing.