The Cross of Mithras Vol. 1: EOD Operation Welcome to Hell (62 page)

  Although neither the engineers  nor the security team were ever attack by the Dragon Clone they were still deathly afraid of being attack by an elite EOD Commando unit. An elite EOD Commando unit is one of the toughest SOB unit that anyone ever had the misfortune to confront. It took the engineers six days to repair the engines.

  Seven hours into Murphy’s search for their unwelcome guests, it started to become apparent to him that they were using the maintenance ducts to move around. Two hours later he realized that the EOD Commando unit must be traveling in the hallways when nobody was around.

  Murphy started to become confused by the actions of this elite EOD Commando unit. Where are they going? They obviously could do far more damage to the ship but they not. Why? Could there be a spy on board? If so, then who? What is the Commando unit doing, making a map of the maintenance duct? Murphy could and couldn’t wait to have those questions answered.

  Four hours later with Murphy and his team being tired and exhausted, he started to think that maybe he might know why the Commando unit is behaving that way. He then quickly headed to the bridge to tell Mad Dawg of his suspicions in person. Before he got there he received an emergency call from Elizabeth Mitchell, one of the engineers on Galactic Prime.

  “Murphy here. Go ahead.”

  “Sir, I just finished my analysis on the damage to our communications and I have strong reasons to believe that neither space-junk nor micro-meteorites damaged our communications.”

  “What leads you to draw that conclusion?”

  “Well sir, as you are well aware, whenever space junk and/or micro-meteorites hits a ship it can be equated to being shot by a shotgun. Each pellet strikes the target in a random location but they are still close together. When it comes to what struck us it had too much precision for it to have been either space-junk or micro-meteorites. When they hit, they hit the critical parts to our communications and they did not appear to have struck in any random way.”

  “Did you inform the captain?”

  “Yes sir. He told me to tell you.”

  “Alright. Over and out.” Murphy said under his breath. He turned and looked at one of his men with a look of disappointment and then they left.

  When Murphy got to the bridge he could tell that Mad Dawg been drinking again. Mad Dawg could not handle the stress of what he called, ‘a sneaky underhanded nerdy tactic.’ But deep down inside he knew that it was a legitimate form of a tactic. He always was good at solving combat related problems not overcoming a cyber attack. As he would put it, he is a ‘man of action. Not a man that sits in front of a computer all day with a screen tan.’

  “So what’s the status of our guests?” Mad Dawg asked Murphy with slurred speech.

  Mad Dawg was so drunk that he was slightly moving back and forth while he was standing. The odd thing about Mad Dawg is that when he is drunk he is a better officer. While he was sober, back when he was a First Lieutenant, he used a tactic that was too crazy for any good officer to use. But as luck and skill would have it, it paid off big time for him. It earned him a promotion to the rank of captain and it gave him his nickname.

  “Beg your pardon sir?”

  “Sta-tus of guests.”

  “Oh them. Sir I have reason to believe that they are trying to lure us away from our critical systems.”

  “What lead you… (unintelligible)?”

  “Sir I didn’t understand what you said.”

  “What lead you to draw that conclusion? Why didn’t you check to maintenance duct earlier?” Mad Dawg said a little bit slower.

  “Sir that part of the ship had few personnel there so I figured that the Commandos would be traveling in the hallways and only using the maintenance duct when they thought someone might be coming. I also thought that after sabotaging the engines they may be headed to the communication area since that would be the next logical place for them to go. What leads me to believe that they may be trying to lure us away from the critical systems is the fact that we haven’t encounter them yet.”

  “Did you check the cargo area and our docking ports?”

  “No sir. I don’t see why they would go there.”

  “Did you consider the fact that they may be planning their escape first? Did you consider that maybe they might be trying to indirectly sabotage our critical systems?” Mad Dawg with slurred speech.

  “No on the first. Yes on the second. The problem with the second is that I don’t have enough people to protect those systems.”

  “Divide each of your teams into a three man group. If any of them should find the Commando unit have them radio it in. Tell them that their orders are not, repeat, are not to engage the enemy unless they are engaged by the enemy. When they find the enemy we will lock all the doors surrounding the Commando unit If they find only one, and only one Commando, then they would need permission to engage.”

  “What about the fact that they are using our maintenance duct?”

  “Have some welders cut some metal to fit the maintenance doors that are near our critical systems. I want them to seal those doors shut. Once that is done, divide your team in two. One team to flush the Commando unit out of the maintenance duct and the other to catch them in the hallways. Get it done right now.” Mad Dawg spoke slowly so that Murphy could understand him.

  “Yes sir.” Murphy said as he left.

  For the next eleven and a half hours Murphy was providing security to the welders, protecting the critical systems and searching for the Commando unit. He then got a call from Mad Dawg who wanted to see him right away. By that time Mad Dawg had already sobered up.

  “You wanted to see me sir.” Murphy asked Mad Dawg when he got to the bridge.

  “How long have you been awake?”

  “Sir?”

  “Just answer the question.”

  “Thirty-six hours.”

  “And your team?”

  “Sir what’s your point?”

  “Just answer my question.”

  “Some of them has been awake as long as I have. Some of them are on double-shifts.. And the rest are on their first shift.”

  “I want you and the ones who have been pulling triple-shifts to get some rest. And no more triple-shifts. Got it Lieutenant.”

  “Sir we need all available security personnel in order to protect our critical systems and to hunt down the EOD infiltration unit before they do any more harm. Better safe than sorry sir.”

  “You and your team is tired and exhausted. Get some rest and let Debernardo take over. And that’s an order Lieutenant.”

  “Yes sir.”

  Two hours later, Staff Sergeant Debernardo and her team found something so important in a docking port that Mad Dawg rushed down there to have a look. It helped to explain the behavior of the Dragon Clone in why it didn’t try to destroy any critical systems minus the engines.

  “What do ya got Sergeant?” Mad Dawg asked.

  “Sir we found a short-range EOD transmitter.” Debernardo said. She then pointed up at it which was well hidden near the ceiling.

  “Well what the…? How in the hell did they got that thing up there. No wonder Murphy didn’t find it when he did a search here.” Mad Dawg said.

  “Maybe they did it when we didn’t have any gravity sir.”

  “No they wouldn’t have the time. Even if they came here first, with or without any gravity, they still would not have the time.”

  “Maybe one of them is a cyborg sir.”

  “Not likely. You know as well as I know that anybody with more than twenty percent cybernetic implants would have been detected by our sensors.”

  “Well how we supposed to get rid of it sir?”

  “Are they any maintenance ducts nearby?” Mad Dawg asked Debernardo after he took a laser rifle and destroyed the transmitter.

  “Yes sir.”

  “Have they been welded shut and reinforced?”

  “No sir.”

  “Get on it now.”

  “Yes sir.”

  Six hours into their sleep, Murphy and his team woke up to begin their shift. Debernardo informed him of what transpired while they were asleep. Forty-three minutes later, Murphy learned (after Mad Dawg was informed) that the ship-to-ground communications had finally been fixed.

  Everything started to look up for both the crew of Galactic Prime and for Task Force ZH-3C, but it would not last long. Both crews desperately needed that small victory. But in truth, the victory was far greater than what they realized. And if they knew the reason why it would have made matters worse. And Hayes was the reason.

(3)

  The cargo ship carrying Task Force ZH-3C finally arrived at the harbor. It was 03:17 hours when they arrived. Most of the team was asleep and a few of them had between two to four hours of sleep. Hayes was among them having only three hours of sleep. He stayed awake too long thinking about what may or may not happen next. He was lost and had no idea of what to do. He didn’t want to go forward, nor could he go back.

  “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your shift starts at 08 hours. Make certain that you use that time to sleep.” Taylor informed Red Team. All of them were on the bridge.

  Blue Team, who woke up at 03 hours, left to get an early start on off-loading the equipment. They took a shower, went to the ship’s cafeteria to eat breakfast and left to begin their day at 05 hours.

  There was, of course, one thing that Sanchez never mentioned at the debriefing. Her team had already volunteer to do the off-loading of the equipment. Their reason is that they didn’t trust either Green nor White Team to do the job.

  The problem with Green Team is that they procrastinate and at times, goof off. White Team problem is that they have to be watched over like a hawk or they may make a mistake. But what about Nakada and Liebowitz?

  Nakada’s problem is that he is too nice. He doesn’t yell at his team unless they are disrespecting his rank. The problem with Liebowitz is that he was never given command of a team with personalities like that of Red Team or Blue Team. Of the two, Liebowitz was never tested in combat. Nobody in Blue Team thought that either Green or White Team could move the equipment without incidence.

  By noon Blue Team was finished with off-loading the equipment, food and water onto trucks. Vaistll, Taylor and Ramirez decided to have the communications set up in a nearby warehouse in case Galactic Prime tries to contact them.

  With all of the work done everybody waited for Ellis, Wexler, and Moriarty to return. In a effort to stop any of them from wondering around, they were ordered to stay near the harbor. While Blue Team was off-loading, White Team was providing security.

  “Sir I just wanted to let you know that we are done.” Sanchez informed Ramirez.

  “Alright.”

  Ramirez then used the helmet-com to tell everyone front and center. Hayes, who was busy feeding his face (and being depressed), took too long to show up.

  “Hayes!” Ramirez yelled at Hayes causing Hayes to flinch. “What is your major malfunction!? Didn’t you hear me tell you ‘front and center’!?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Then you did that on purpose!”

  “No sir! I was…”

  “What!? What the fuck were you doing that was so fucking important as to take your damn time to show up!?” Ramirez yelled at Hayes when he didn’t finished saying what he was saying.

  “I was eating sir!” Hayes said which caused everybody (minus Vaistll and Taylor) to laugh.

  “Oh! So feeding your fat face is more important than following orders!”

  “No sir I…”

  “Shut the fuck up! I don’t want to hear it!”

  “But sir I…”

  “And I said for you to ‘shut the fuck up’! Got it!?” Ramirez yelled at the top of his voice. Luckily for everyone, Ramirez wasn’t using the helmet-com.

  “Yes sir.”

  When Hayes got the call he was eating, he then wash his food down with his drink, and then quickly washed his hands. Hayes was too depressed because of everything that was occurring to him. And he didn’t realize that his behavior is a positive feedback loop to his depression.

  “We have decided to set up our communications in that nearby warehouse.” Taylor informed them as he pointed to the warehouse. He then noticed that Hayes didn’t like the sound of what he said.

  “You got a problem with that Hayes?” Taylor asked.

  “No sir. I um… never mind sir.”

  “We’re not going to set up the rest of the base. And…” Taylor was saying until he noticed that, once again, Hayes had a problem with what he said.

  “What’s your problem Hayes?” Taylor asked him.

  “No problem sir.”

  “You look like you got a problem with what we decided.”

  “I don’t have a problem sir.”

  “I think that you do. Out with it.”

  “I thought that we weren’t going to set up our communications because we would have to set up the rest of our base.”

  “We don’t need to because we got cover and power for our communications.”