The Cross of Mithras Vol. 1: EOD Operation Welcome to Hell (3 page)

  “Open a channel.” Mad Dawg said to the Communication Officer.

  “Channel open sir.”

  “This is the spaceship Galactic Prime and we are requesting docking clearance,” Mad Dawg said as one of his crewmen downloaded the spaceship clearance codes.

  “One moment please as we confirm your clearance to dock,” the female voice said which sounded like it was automated.

  “You have clearance to dock at Port 14.”

  “Understood. Take us in Johnson I’m going to see if our guests are awake yet,” Mad Dawg said as he got up to leave.

  “Copy that.” As soon as Mad Dawg left Johnson said, “I wonder how many more of our friends are going to die this time around?”

(3)

  It was early Saturday morning and Commodore Parker just arrived home. He spent the night at his office passed out from drinking his favorite poison. When he got to his front door he notices that his house was broken into. He walked in his home shocked by the fact that he has just been robbed.

  “Fuckin’-A! Goddamn it all to fucking hell!” He screamed in rage and threw the bottle of Martian Whiskey. It shattered on the wall near the kitchen.

  “Goddamn fuckin’ assholes! How dare they do this to me.” He screamed out again. He then notices the drug paraphernalia on his coffee table. But what disgusted him the most is when he noticed that there are several used condoms on the coffee table as well.

  “Sick! Oh, fuck! Goddamn I hate this fucking place!” He cried out both in rage and frustration.

  Did it ever occur to him that somebody might do something like that? Break into his house and rob him. After all he did create the habit of being drunk on Friday and end up passed out at his office. He is well known in the city, and he does make good money. Maybe he should have stick to his original plan and buy that new security home system, instead of wasting his money on gambling. He’s not a betting man, but he just wanted to get away from Roscadia. But where was he planning on going? He is a Commodore. It’s not like he could just quit his job or go on a vacation. He’s going to be stuck there for years. So where was he going to go if he did won? He should have known better.

(4)

  Vaistll, Lieutenant Sanchez, Chief Petty Officer Coté, Crewwoman Venito and Van Hoven was in the women’s restroom peeing for what seemed like an eternity. They could have gone to their quarters to do that, but like anybody who just came out of cryo-sleep they just couldn’t hold it in. It’s the nanoprobes that allow the crew to be frozen for a long trip is the reason. The nanoprobes break down the ice crystals in the body, which prevents the ice crystals from damaging tissue cells. Once the person is brought out of cryo-sleep the nanoprobes goes to the bladder causing the person to urinate a lot. The nanoprobes goes there to be gotten rid of

  Each one of them kept on thinking about their mission. They knew that something very serious was going on at Golden Hyperion. They could feel the darkness of the EOD that grips at their soul. That sinking feeling that one is about to open the pit of hell and jump in. It is a never-ending nightmare that will haunt you until the day that you die. For it will teach you that evil has no limits.

  You could see both the fear and the concern in their eyes, except for Vaistll. Ever since she came out of cryo-sleep something else has been bothering her. It was strange that she should have the feeling. Last time that she had it was when she first arrived on Earth. It was the feeling of her people. It was a feeling that told her that she is getting near them. It was like they are somewhere close by.  She wished she knew if they were up to something. Is it something bad? Or is it something else? If so, then what could it be? What could they be up to? Have they join forces with the EOD? Is that what awaits them at Golden Hyperion?

  She tried her best to put it out of her head. It was something that she did not want to bother her while she was at Roscadia. She wanted to have a good time, not to be bothered by bad memories. Nor did she want those memories to bother her before she left to go on her mission. She decided to put it out of her head by thinking about something else. She eventually found something; the history of the struggle between Project 21 and the EOD:

  The EOD (the Era of Darkness) is a secret society that was created somewhere in the US at some point in the 1980’s. The only thing that is known about its founder is that he was born in 1962. But he created an institution that has become nothing more than a cancer in the body of liberty. Although it was no more than 20 years old when Project 21 was created, it proved that it had a great deal of power. So much so, that it could easily kidnap people off the streets and perform cybernetics experiments upon them. Some of those people rebel most did not. For the ability of the EOD to control others was match by its power - formidable. For those who did rebel, they learn the hard way that the EOD can be like your shadow. No place to run. No place to hide. No place to turn to. Only to the EOD that knocks at your back door. And then you must die. Death, panic and fear, grips your soul as they conduct their cybernetic experiments upon you. It is their desire to create a cyborg that you just unknowingly volunteer for. An evil institution that has infiltrated all levels of government, who can guarantee you that no help will ever come to your rescue.

  Or so it would seem if it was not for their 21
st
project. He was a man who was turned into a cyborg, who taught others how to rebel against the EOD. One day a black man, who was already rebelling against them unknowingly, came to the rescue of a white woman. Both of them eventually ended up in the hands of that cyborg and his rebel group. She became the first person to realize that it was not the government that was responsible for what the EOD is doing to them, but rather a rogue agency. It was she who decided to stop running scared and go into the lion’s den. With the blessing of their founder, each of them reluctantly agreed. Despite the fact that many of their members died, including their founder, they did receive help from within the government. And they got the chance to meet their biggest supporter - the President of the United States. With their spirits lifted, and with government support, they destroyed the EOD cyborg experimentations. Only to end up discovering that the EOD is no where near finished. The President gave them a chance to become a secret agency, in an effort to bring the EOD to justice. When they were ask for a name, they decided to name their agency after their founder - Project 21.

  With the support of the US federal government, Project 21 was finally able to do what it always wanted to do from the beginning - bring the EOD to justice. But unlike the other federal agencies, Project 21 knew what to expect from the EOD. Not to take them on directly, but to ensure that they cannot infiltrate you. Despite the fact that infighting between those federal agencies made it harder to purge those agencies of the EOD infiltration, the EOD could not infiltrate Project 21. That allowed Project 21 to slowly become stronger, where eventually it could take on the EOD.

  But the power of the EOD could not be challenged so easily. In the middle of the 21
st
century they proved just how powerful they are. They were so powerful that governments from around the world decided to do something about it. But tragically, it was too little, too late. For the EOD allowed all of those troops, from all of those governments to come and meet a new form of terror. The EOD used nanoprobes both to control and to create - a zombie army. Afterwards, the fear that grips the global community ensured that no one would dare challenge the might of the EOD. But somebody had to. And that somebody, like always, was Project 21.

  Their biggest break came in 2001, when they got an unexpected gift; an extraterrestrial, that literally fell into their laps. An individual who both suffer under, and who had to learn to rise above an evil that came into her life. She was an individual who would later join them, and her wisdom and experience would help to guide them through their darkest hour. It was an hour that was made all the darker by an incompetent government, and a President who cared more about waging a war against terrorism. A President that wanted to take away the only individual that could guide them through the darkness. But as luck would have it, the only thing that the President knew of her was that she was an extraterrestrial. Many individuals risk their careers just to protect her. And all of them had to wait until the President changed his mind, or left office. And so the nightmare grew all the darker until it become a beast that could no longer be vanquish.

  Project 21 found itself relying on her wisdom and guidance more, and more, as time went by. It was the guidance that saw them through one dark moment, after another. The guidance that gave them hope in their struggle against the EOD when nations were too afraid to do anything. She taught them to believe in themselves. She taught them that goodness will always suffer in the face of evil, but in the end, it will prevail. She taught them that the struggle between goodness and evil will last more than a lifetime. She helped them to keep the faith, despite the darkness of the EOD. Because of her, Project 21 eventually became a community that could compete with the EOD on equal footing.

  Now in the year 2288 nations are secretly supporting Project 21 in an effort to bring down the EOD. And on the moon Golden Hyperion it becomes their chance to do just that. But for those who are sent there, they can’t help but to wonder, what type of hell awaits them.

  She just wished that she knew how this part turns out. Yes indeed, what type of hell waited for her and her crew? She needed to take her mind, and the mind of her crew off of their mission. It was her responsibility as a captain. Luckily for her she was in a good place for it - Roscadia. ‘There is always so much to do in Roscadia that you wouldn’t know where to start your day’, as the advertisement went. She hoped that none of her crewmates get themselves into trouble like they have before. She laughs to herself as she thought about keeping them on a leash. She was trying to figure out some way to control them, and to take her mind off of something.

  ‘Good,’ she thought, ‘now I got something to think about other than what I have been.’ She hoped.

(5)

  He stood there on the space station balcony looking at Roscadia thinking about his mission and how it might be his last. Behind him he could hear the music and the conservations coming from the night club. Lieutenant Commander Ramirez, a tall handsome Latino male, and like Master Chief Petty Officer Kim and Crewman Moriarty, he is a former EOD agent. But unlike them, he was in the EOD Special Forces. He never talks about his life with the EOD and nobody ever ask him. On the left side of his face he bears the scars of that life; burns scars and a cybernetic eye. Although he could get the burn scars removed and get a genetic grown eye, he chooses not to. They are a constant reminder of that former life that he was born into and hated dearly. He was standing there looking at Roscadia because he knew the rule for betraying the EOD - liquidation. Will this be his last mission? If it was, then it would take away the pain and the guilt of his former life.

  She came up behind him and said, “I’ve finally found you.” It was Vaistll.

  “I didn’t know that you were looking for me.”

  “Yeah. I thought that you might have a short leash on Wexler.” She said with a smile causing him to laugh a little.

  “I wish I did.”

  She looked at Roscadia then asked him, “Are you thinking about the mission?”

  He paused and said, “Yeah.”

  He then notices that something was bothering her. “It’s not like you to be worried about a mission like this. Is something wrong?” He said looking a little concerned at his captain, fearing what she might know about the mission.

  “No it’s that. It’s… It’s nothing.”

  “What is it?” He knew her well enough to know that she’s not the type to worry over nothing. So he knew that it must be something very important.

  “It’s… It’s just a feeling that I have.”

  “About what?”

  “My species.”

  “In what way?”

  “Ever since I came out of cryo-sleep I’ve been having this feeling of… This constant feeling of….“ She looked away and he saw concern in her face.

  “Of what?” He asked her.

  “That I’m getting near them. Like… like they are somewhere nearby. It’s like they’re in another room or something.”

  Knowing what he knew about her species, he didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what else to say, and neither did she.

(6)

  “What the…? Aw, come on!” It was Commodore Parker; he was lying down on a bed naked, he just finished taking off his briefs. He was talking to a prostitute which he needed to see after his place was robbed. It’s not like he was married, nor did he had a girlfriend. Not living near a planet (or a moon) with a large population made it hard for him to find someone. Living in Roscadia didn’t help him much either. He just needed a quick fix, something to take his mind off of his troubles that he’s been having lately.

  “I just don’t wanna catch anything.” She said looking down at what he had between his legs.

  “What!? It’s just a rash!”