The Cross of Mithras Vol. 1: EOD Operation Welcome to Hell (52 page)

  After Omori graduated from college, she spent the next few years getting nothing but dead end jobs. Nothing that really challenged her ingenuity. Nothing that took advantage of how gifted she is. Instead, she was treated like a factory worker. Sayaka knew that with ingenuity it cannot produce like a factory worker. It takes time, which is a luxury that the factory worker don’t have. A factory worker cannot sit around and wait to do work, they must work. With ingenuity it’s like talent. You can’t tell a song writer to write songs on a daily basis. And that is what is being asked of her. To use her ingenuity on a daily basis. She felt demoralized.

  She tried to start a business but it struggled over the next couple of years. All the way up until she met Lenkov. It was a small software company. The product that she created, combined with her hatred for software and her ruthlessness, made her enemies in the software industry. And they made certain that her company remained small. They fear her product more than her.

  Joseph The Hammer King Lenkov was born in Wasilla, Alaska. He grew up in a broken home with a drunken abusive father. Joseph’s father spent time in and out of prison. His father broke into people’s homes in order to support his drug habits. Once, when Joseph was eight years old, his father took him on one of those “trips.”

  At that early age, the young Joseph promised within his heart and soul not to be like his father. Never, no matter how angry he got, would he hit a woman. He hated his father for abusing his mother. His father never hit him or his siblings. But like his mother said to his father, only a coward would hit a woman and not a man. Joseph learned at that age not to wear his heart on his sleeve,  but to protect it and only bring it out for those who deserve it.

  What created the downward spiral for Joseph’s father, was that the city of Wasilla had fallen on hard times. He had a good paying job in Anchorage which supported a middle class lifestyle. They lived in a beautiful home. Despite that, neither his father nor his mother learned to save. Instead they loved to spend their money. Their debt soared to where they could no longer support their lifestyle. Whereas his mother finally learned to save, his father did not. And that created stress between the two which caused them to argue all the time. His mother tried her best to pay the bills, but Joseph’s father wouldn’t help out. His father eventually turned to gambling which made it worse. And then finally his father turned to both drugs and alcohol. And because of that he lost his job.

  Because of Joseph’s father, from three up until his mother left his father, Joseph grew up poor. Once, when Joseph got home from school, he saw that some of his father’s “friends” came over. Joseph stood there watching them and his father doing drugs. At one point Joseph saw his father pull out a knife and nailed his drug friend’s hand to the table. He learned at that early age the significance of intimidation and fear. It controls people.

  Luckily for Joseph his mother was strong willed and independent. Her family had deep roots in both the military and police. Her father was a police officer,  and three of her siblings served in the military. She herself served six years in the Space Core. Although his mother was short, her father taught her to stand up for herself. Serving in the military taught her to endure the abuse and to take a punch. All of that gave her the strength to leave Joseph’s father.

  Mrs. Lenkov ended up moving to a planet that she always dreamt about as a teenager. While she was in the Space Core, she spent a month there. And that place was the American colony of Columbia. The planet had a population of at least half-a-million. But despite that, it was a major trading planet in that sector of space. It traded with a major Japanese colony and a alien colony. It is that Japanese colony where Sayaka Omori was born and raised. Columbia did had another trading partner. One that was off the books and illegal. And that trading partner was the EOD.

  Everything that Joseph went through as a child traumatize him. Because his trauma was unrecognized he became a trouble teenager. His trauma led him into doing drugs as a teenager, but he only did it for at least one year. When he was twelve years old he learned about the EOD and he wanted to join them. But he didn’t know how. When he was sixteen, he learned that the EOD shuns drug abuse. So he quit using them. He wanted to join them because of how much they value the family and the community. It was only because of his father’s bad behavior.

  When he was 21 years old he joined the police force. Although he was a good cop it didn’t change his desire to join the EOD. Nothing really could. It was the dark side of the community that encourage him to join the EOD. As a cop, he noticed that other police officers were affected by all that they saw, but not him. And he knew that it was because of what he went through as a child. Besides, he was too busy grieving over the lost of his childhood. When he was twenty-nine he became a police detective. Both him and his partner were corrupt. His partner more so than he was. Lenkov always had the potential to change and become a good cop. He just needed the right influence.

  As a cop, and later as a detective, he was always on the lookout for how he could join the EOD. It was something that he hated about them. It’s so hard to find out how to join them. They’re not the type that advertise. Besides, if they did what would they say? ‘Are you evil or crooked? Then join us.’ The EOD always preferred secrecy, even when it comes to joining them. Lenkov always wanted to change that if he could.

  Everything that Lenkov went through as a child, plus, him taking after his mother, taught him to be a fighter. To fight for something greater than himself. That utopia lies at the end of hardship. He learned that nothing will come to you because you want it. You must pursue it through the hardship. Yes there will be hardships, but if you want it badly enough, then you will endure the hardships. He overcame two hardships: what he endure as a child because of his father; and his depression that led him to do drugs. It gave him an iron-clad will which made him so formidable.

  Project 21 sponsored a program for businesses called, “Business Community Against EOD Trade” or B-CAET (B-CAT). But as Omori guess correctly, it was to protect large corporations, not small ones like hers. The reason: the EOD never had, never will, go after small businesses. The EOD only makes small changes to small businesses and those changes are welcome by those companies. But with large corporations the changes that the EOD makes, actually hurts them in the pocket books. Although the changes that the EOD makes actually benefit the community, large public held corporations never were social responsible like small private held companies are.

  Although Omori biggest rival was a supporter of B-CAT, she decided to stay with them, but not as a supporter. The reason why she decided to stay was because she felt that it could give her info on how to join the EOD. But she didn’t have to stay that long.

  Sayaka Omori stopped going to B-CAT when she met Joseph Lenkov. She once saw him on TV and she thought that he was attractive. Before he went to a his first B-CAT meeting (he was investigating a corrupt charges on one of the members of B-CAT), he saw her in a TV interview that was about, the time that she created her Voter Revolution. He thought that she was very beautiful. When they met at that B-CAT meeting both of them fell in love with each other.

  When they learned that they wanted to join the EOD, they realized that they were truly meant for one another. They then exchanged all the information that they collected on joining the EOD and it helped them to join. The EOD decided to keep both of them together and they were quickly rewarded for that decision and they never regretted that.

  The EOD was faced with a major rebellion that was going badly for them. The rebels were in control of roughly 80% of their self-professed home world that they rechristened “Valkyrie.” The EOD had to take it back to prevent more rebellions. The EOD sent both Lenkov and Omori to Valkyrie. (Lenkov was given the rank of Ensign when he joined.)

  Ensign Lenkov’s CO had a large base and he felt that it would be best to go on the defense. Lenkov convinced him to let him take a team, build up a base outside the rebel capital, hold the ground until reinforcements arrive, and bring back any Intel collected. His CO agreed to the plan.

  Sayaka Omori then did a massive cyber attack on the rebels. She put them in what she called a “Grip of Doom.” The Grip of Doom is basically a cybernetic embargo.
All
… rebel cybernetic activity was frozen on Valkyrie. Omori’s actions not only earned her, her nickname, but it also crippled the rebels. For a brief moment in time the rebels were brought to their knees. Everybody was flabbergasted by it. Everyone accept for Lenkov who said, “That’s my girl.”

  Lenkov quickly built up his base and defenses. While he was building the rest of his base (including an airfield) the rebels sent wave after wave at his defenses. Not once did his defense broke. Not once did the rebels broke through. Since Omori knocked out the radar, the rebel air force was useless. When the airfield was finished the EOD High Command gave him a small air force to see what he could do with it. Lenkov sent the short range attack planes to guard both flanks were the rebels supplies were. He then sent a small unit to hold the area, take all of the supplies and permanently cut them off from their supplies. He used the heavy assault planes to soften up the enemy base each time they were ready to take off. Using both ground forces and attack helicopters, he captured and secured the rebel capital. He then pushed on destroying what was left of the rebel base.

  With all that he achieved on that day, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and received several medals. That one single victory was a sign of things to come in that war. On top of his victory on that day, not one, not one single personnel under his chain of command was lost. Yes indeed it was a sign of things to come. The rebels are in a fight for their lives and they refuse to admit it until it is too late.

  Joseph was constantly arguing with his superiors over the fact that they won’t either let him take a unit (or for them to do it) and attack the rebel fuel/economy sector. The rebel fuel/economy sector was not only their life line, but it was their main source of income. Which is the main reason why Lenkov wanted to attack it. His superiors had a far more simpler and more practical reason why they didn’t want to attack it. There was a rebel base outside the fuel/economy sector that was bigger and stronger than the one outside the capital and they had a multi-missile WMD. The rebels held all the cards there. Lenkov’s superiors knew he was right but it would have been suicidal to do something.

  As time went by the EOD finally gave Lenkov what he wanted – to attack the rebel stronghold. He then used the insane tactic of, “In your face with all guns a blazin’.”  After he built a small base he sent a small unit to a pass that borders a small lake. The pass was one out of three passes in, or out of the base. The other pass (which was on the other side of a steep hill that border the other pass) the rebels laid down a large mine field. The third pass led to a city that the rebels hardly ever used. Lenkov still built his defenses to deal with any rebel attacks that came from there.

  When Lenkov’s unit got to the main passes, they promptly built his infamous defenses. He then sent a unit to capture the rebel fuel/economy sector. Resistance was minimal there. While the unit was in the possess of capturing the sector, the first devastating wave after another, came to break out of the death grip that Lenkov had on them. None was affective. He then used the heavy assault planes to destroy the rebel multi-missile WMDs long before it had the chance to launch. After the mine field was cleared, Lenkov sent a strike team up the pass and finished off the rest of the rebel base.

  Once again, Lenkov lost no one while the rebels lost between 4-to-5 times more than what they lost defending their capital. Lenkov was promoted to the rank of Commander and received several medals. That one single victory broke the back of the rebels. The rebels this time around, they will take Lenkov far more serious than before. They started to believe that maybe, just maybe, Lenkov might be the one to defeat them. The rebels both feared and hated both Omori and Lenkov and the EOD loved it.

  In the battle that got Lenkov promoted to Fleet Captain he had his work cut out for him. Lenkov had to take on, not one, but four rebel bases simultaneously. The rebels also had seven (three were in the process of being built) multi-missile WMDs. He went in built his base quickly, built the EOD WMD, built his airbase and prepare for the rebels devastating counter-attacks as they wait for their multi-missiles to launch. This time around Lenkov was losing people, but not much. Lenkov lost two pilots who was sent trying to destroy one of the multi-missile launch base. But it didn’t matter, the rebels never had a chance to use any of their WMDs. Lenkov was just quicker on the trigger. He built his base fast and hard. He lost far less than fifty personnel.

  The rebels relied heavily on the multi-missile WMD (called Black Rain) because it was the only way that they could compensate for a poor air force. If they tried to use their air force, the EOD air force would have annihilate the rebel air force. Black Rain is one-part napalm, one-part cluster bomb and if it was used on an EOD base it would have destroyed a large part of it. But the drawback is that it is too large to be placed on a mobile missile launcher. Black Rain was always equated to shooting someone at close range with a shotgun.

  With the rebels being crushed on Valkyrie, Lenkov earned his nickname. All other possible resistance coming from anywhere within the EOD, were crushed so long as people knew that both Lenkov and Omori is around. Nobody wanted to challenge them. Their victory on Valkyrie made them famous all over the galaxy. People were afraid that they too might suffer the same fate as Valkyrie.